avoir une dent contre quelqu'un
Meaning: Holding a grudge or resentment toward someone.
Language: French
Literally: to have a tooth against someone
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: A tooth as a weapon to bite with; metaphor for bearing malice.
Equivalents in other languages
- English: To have a chip on your shoulder — literally: To carry a chip of wood on your shoulder
More idioms — Body & Senses
- avoir le trac — Feeling nervous or anxious before a performance or important event.
- avoir une grosse tête — Being arrogant, conceited, or thinking highly of oneself.
- avoir la chair de poule — Experiencing fear, cold, or emotional reaction causing skin reaction.
- mettre son doigt sur la plaie — Identifying the exact problem or sensitive issue in a situation.
- faire ses dents — A baby is teething and developing their first teeth.
- avoir le compas dans l'oeil — Having excellent judgment of distance, measurement, or proportion.
More French idioms
- tirer les vers du nez — Getting someone to reveal information they want to keep secret.
- faire la morte — Pretending not to notice something or ignoring a situation.
- manger ses paroles — Having to take back or admit one was wrong about something said.
- mettre l'eau à la bouche — Making someone crave or desire something through temptation.
- tremper son biscuit — Engaging in a brief romantic or intimate encounter.
- faire un bide — Experiencing complete failure or lack of success.
From our compliments & insults
- Avoir un poil dans la main — To be incurably lazy.
- Tête de linotte — A scatterbrain who can't hold a thought.
- Courir sur le haricot — To get badly on someone's nerves.