beat the drum for something
Meaning: To promote something loudly and publicly.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The mayor has been beating the drum for the new library all year.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Drums once announced proclamations and drew a crowd for a fair or a recruiting sergeant. The figurative use is recorded from the 19th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- Italian: battere la grancassa — literally: to beat the big drum
More idioms — Daily Life
- any old how — Carelessly, with no attention to doing it properly.
- without a fight — With no resistance at all.
- pave the way — To prepare the ground so that something can happen later.
- catch someone off guard — To surprise someone who is not prepared.
- all at once — Suddenly, with no warning.
- do more harm than good — To make matters worse while trying to help.
More English idioms
- set someone's heart racing — To excite or alarm someone.
- forget one's own head — To be extremely forgetful.
- take to one's heels — To run away.
- where the sun doesn't shine — Somewhere hidden; also a rude way of naming the body.
- drag one's feet — To delay deliberately.
- go through the motions — To do something without care or real effort.
From our compliments & insults
- T'as pas inventé le fil à couper le beurre — You're not exactly a genius — the wire to cut butter is about the most obvious tool imagi…
- Tête de mule — An impossibly stubborn person who refuses to change their mind no matter what.
- C'est une vraie chèvre — They're hopelessly stubborn and infuriating — a goat that refuses to be moved.