battre les fourrés
Meaning: To range far and wide in search of adventure or chance encounters.
Language: French
Literally: to beat the thickets
Category: Nature
Origin: The phrase originates from hunting practice—beating brush to flush out game—and is used figuratively for wandering in search of discovery.
More idioms — Nature
- prendre le maquis — To go into hiding or join a resistance movement to escape authority or persecution.
- remuer ciel et terre — To exert all possible effort and use every available means to achieve a goal.
- de aquellos polvos, estos lodos — Consequences or problems arise later from careless or harmful actions taken earlier; misd…
- a contracorriente — To act or think in opposition to prevailing opinion, custom, or the natural course of eve…
- ahogarse en poca agua — to panic or overreact to a minor problem.
- salga el sol por donde quiera — It does not matter what happens or what difficulties arise; one will accept whatever come…
More French idioms
- donner du poing sur la table — To express strong disagreement or disapproval with a situation.
- avoir sur les bras — To be burdened with or responsible for someone or something; to be occupied with a demand…
- recoller les morceaux — to repair a broken relationship or reconcile after a quarrel.
- brûler ses dernières cartouches — to exhaust one's final resources or use one's last arguments in desperation.
- ne s’être pas regardé — to judge others harshly while being blind to one's own equal or greater faults.
- ne pas tourner rond — to be unwell or not functioning properly.
From our proverbs
- Never split timber against the grain. — Fighting natural resistance wastes effort; success requires working with, not against, in…
- While the grass grows the steed starves. — Delay in acting allows opportunities to slip away while waiting for ideal conditions that…
- Grass grows not upon the highway. — Constant traffic wears away growth; neglected paths flourish while heavily used routes re…