Dans le plus simple appareil
Meaning: Stark naked.
Language: French
Literally: In the simplest apparatus
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: Appareil once meant attire or outward get-up, especially ceremonial dress, so the simplest possible one is none at all. The elevated register is the point — it is a deliberately genteel way of saying nude.
More idioms — Body & Senses
- Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les…
- Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry.
- Couper les cheveux en quatre — To over-analyze or split hairs.
- Se regarder le nombril — To be self-centered or narcissistic.
- Tomaten auf den Augen haben — To be oblivious to what's right in front of you.
- Die Daumen drücken — To wish someone good luck (like crossing fingers).
More French idioms
- L'arbre qui cache la forêt — A conspicuous detail that distracts attention from the larger reality behind it.
- Jeter son bonnet par-dessus les moulins — To throw propriety to the wind and stop caring what people think.
- Un baroud d'honneur — A last stand fought for honor when defeat is already certain.
- Un ange passe — Said to acknowledge a sudden awkward silence in a conversation.
- Être aux anges — To be overjoyed, in raptures.
- Être aux abonnés absents — To be unreachable, or to fail to show up when needed.
From our untranslatable words
- Épanouissement — The full flourishing of a person — blooming into your most complete, radiant self. More t…
- Ressourcement — The act of returning to one's roots or origins to find renewal — going back to a place, t…
- Dépaysement — The disorienting yet often pleasant feeling of being far from home, immersed in the unfam…
Browse all untranslatable words →
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