avoir le compas dans l'oeil
Meaning: Having excellent judgment of distance, measurement, or proportion.
Language: French
Literally: to have a compass in the eye
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: Saint-Simon has it in his Mémoires in the 18th century, writing about Louis XIV's own eye for measurement, though the phrase is sometimes attributed instead to Michelangelo, and no source manages to settle which claim, if either, is the real first use. Compas — a compass, in the drafting sense, for measuring angles and distances — comes from Latin compassus. The same root also produced the verb compasser, to measure out with one's own pace, which is why French has a small family of expressions tying the compas to legs and walking as much as to the eye — all variations on judging distance without an instrument in hand.
More idioms — Body & Senses
- avoir les pieds qui démangent — Wanting to travel or move to a different place.
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More French idioms
- faire la soupe à la grimace — Complaining or grumbling about something constantly.
- être aux petits soins — Receiving attentive, careful treatment and consideration from someone.
- montrer les dents — Displaying aggression, defiance, or readiness to fight.
- avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre — Taking more food than one can actually eat; wanting too much.
- faire un esclandre — Creating a public disturbance or embarrassing scene.
- être un ours — Being unfriendly, grumpy, and difficult to approach socially.
From our untranslatable words
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