Damer le pion à quelqu'un
Meaning: To outmaneuver someone decisively.
Language: French
Literally: To crown one's pawn over someone
Category: Daily Life
Origin: In draughts and chess a piece reaching the far rank is crowned and becomes far more powerful. Doing it to someone means gaining the decisive advantage in a game they were also playing.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Pas piqué des vers — Remarkable; really something.
- Savonner la planche à quelqu'un — To sabotage someone quietly so they fail.
- Glisser une peau de banane — To engineer someone's public downfall.
- Battre son plein — To be in full swing.
- Péter les plombs — To lose one's temper completely.
- Faire le point — To take stock of where things stand.
More French idioms
- Pomme de discorde — The particular thing two parties are fighting over.
- En grande pompe — With elaborate ceremony.
- Comme le Pont-Neuf — In excellent shape despite considerable age.
- Enfoncer une porte ouverte — To make a great effort to establish something nobody disputes.
- La portion congrue — A bare minimum, grudgingly given.
- Saoul comme un Polonais — Extremely drunk.
From our proverbs
- Every one puts his fault on the times. — People habitually blame circumstances and bad luck rather than acknowledging their own re…
- A fault once denied is twice committed. — Refusing to acknowledge wrongdoing compounds the original error by adding dishonesty.
- Every one's faults are not written on their foreheads. — We cannot judge people's character by appearances; hidden flaws require deeper knowledge…
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