Avoir voix au chapitre
Meaning: To have a say in a decision.
Language: French
Literally: To have a voice in the chapter
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The chapter was the assembly of a monastery or cathedral, and only certain members were entitled to speak and vote in it. To have voix au chapitre is to hold that standing, and the phrase is most often used to deny it.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Trouver chaussure à son pied — To find exactly the right match, usually a partner.
- Ne pas y aller par quatre chemins — To come straight to the point.
- Tous les chemins mènent à Rome — There are many routes to the same result.
- Un chevalier d'industrie — A swindler who lives by his wits at others' expense.
- La cheville ouvrière — The linchpin — the person or thing on which an entire operation turns.
- Une chiffe molle — A spineless person with no will of their own.
More French idioms
- Être au septième ciel — To be in a state of perfect happiness.
- Mettre la clé sous la porte — To shut up shop; to go out of business.
- Ne pas être grand clerc — Not to be much of an expert — used to say that no expertise is needed to see something.
- Déménager à la cloche de bois — To do a moonlight flit, leaving without paying the rent.
- Rater le coche — To miss an opportunity through being too slow.
- Être coiffé au poteau — To be beaten by a hair right at the finish.
From our tongue twisters
- Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cents scies scient six cents cyprès. — An 's' / 'si' minefield.
- Dans ta tente ta tante t'attend. — A gentle 'ta / ten / tan / t'' warm-up that sounds faster than it reads.
- Seize chaises sèches sur seize arches sèches. — A relentless collision of 'sei', 'sèch', and 's' — the tongue can't find traction.
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