Corvéable à merci
Meaning: Available to be worked without limit and without recourse.
Language: French
Literally: Liable to forced labor at will
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The corvée was the unpaid labor a lord could demand of his tenants, and taillable et corvéable à merci described those subject to it without restriction. The phrase survived the Revolution as a complaint about employers.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Avoir la cote — To be well regarded; to be popular.
- Sans coup férir — Without any resistance at all; effortlessly.
- Un coup de fil — A telephone call.
- Tomber comme un couperet — To land suddenly and irrevocably, as of bad news.
- Faire la cour à quelqu'un — To court someone romantically.
- La cour des grands — The top tier, where the serious players are.
More French idioms
- Une fois n'est pas coutume — One exception does not establish a habit.
- Pendre la crémaillère — To hold a housewarming.
- Riche comme Crésus — Enormously wealthy.
- La critique est aisée, mais l'art est difficile — Faulting a work costs nothing compared with making one.
- Tant va la cruche à l'eau qu'à la fin elle se casse — Repeated risk-taking eventually catches up with you.
- Porter la culotte — To be the one who makes the decisions in a household.
From our false friends
- Rester — Actually means 'to stay' or 'to remain'. Je reste ici = I'm staying here — not taking a n…
- Attendre — Actually means 'to wait for'. J'attends le bus = I'm waiting for the bus. For attend an e…
- Actuel — Actually means 'current' or 'present-day'. Actuellement = currently — not 'actually'.
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