Clouer le bec à quelqu'un
Meaning: To silence someone completely, usually with an unanswerable reply.
Language: French
Literally: To nail someone's beak shut
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: Bec for the human mouth is old and dismissive, treating the talker as a squawking bird. Nailing it shut is a deliberately brutal image for an argument that leaves no possible response.
More idioms — Body & Senses
- Se crêper le chignon — To have a furious quarrel — said of women.
- Avoir les yeux de Chimène pour quelqu'un — To be visibly smitten with someone or something.
- Se faire des cheveux blancs — To worry oneself sick.
- Haut les cœurs ! — Take courage; lift your spirits.
- Avoir les coudées franches — To have complete freedom of action.
- Battre sa coulpe — To publicly acknowledge one's own wrongdoing.
More French idioms
- Aux calendes grecques — Never — used of something postponed indefinitely.
- Un cautère sur une jambe de bois — A remedy that is completely useless.
- Scier la branche sur laquelle on est assis — To destroy the thing your own position depends on.
- Tomber de Charybde en Scylla — To escape one danger only to meet a worse one.
- Proposer la botte à quelqu'un — To proposition someone sexually.
- Pousser le bouchon un peu loin — To go too far; to overstep.
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