Collet monté
Meaning: Prim, stiff and old-fashioned in manner.
Language: French
Literally: Raised collar
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The collet monté was the wired standing collar worn at the courts of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, which forced the head up and back. By Molière's time it already meant someone whose manners belonged to an earlier reign.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Dans le collimateur — In someone's sights; singled out for scrutiny.
- Le complexe d'Œdipe — A child's unconscious attachment to the opposite-sex parent and rivalry with the other.
- De conserve — Together, in company — not to be confused with de concert.
- On lui donnerait le Bon Dieu sans confession — He looks completely innocent — with the implication that he is not.
- À cor et à cri — Loudly and insistently; demanding something at the top of one's voice.
- La corde au cou — Entirely at someone's mercy; forced to submit on any terms.
More French idioms
- Tenir la corde — To be in the best position to win.
- Tenir les cordons du poêle — To be a pallbearer at a funeral, as a mark of honor.
- La corne d'abondance — A source of inexhaustible abundance.
- Un choix cornélien — A dilemma in which every option requires sacrificing something one is bound to.
- À son corps défendant — Reluctantly; against one's own will.
- Corvéable à merci — Available to be worked without limit and without recourse.
From our proverbs
- Where bees are there is honey. — Productive effort naturally yields rewards; seek out where activity and industry flourish.
- He that hires the horse must ride before. — The person who pays for something bears responsibility for using it first or bearing its…
- Better be a beggar than a fool. — Poverty with dignity and sense surpasses the shame of foolish wealth or status.
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