De dans ontspringen
Meaning: To narrowly escape trouble.
Language: Dutch
Literally: To leap out of the dance
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Springing clear just as the dance — the danger — begins pictures a hair's-breadth escape.
Equivalents in other languages
- Finnish: Päästä kuin koira veräjästä — literally: To get off like a dog through the gate
More idioms — Daily Life
- Att smita från notan — To dodge paying or shirk responsibility.
- Att sätta sig på tvären — To be obstinate and refuse to cooperate.
- Wyjść jak Zabłocki na mydle — To lose out badly on a deal.
- Pabuç pahalı — Things are getting dangerous; time to be careful.
- İki ayağını bir pabuca sokmak — To rush and pressure someone relentlessly.
- يضرب في حديد بارد (yadrib fi hadid barid) — To waste effort on a hopeless task.
More Dutch idioms
- hoe de vork in de steel zit — to understand the real situation or hidden mechanics of something.
- over de brug komen — to hand over money or pay what is owed.
- in het water vallen — for a plan or undertaking to fail or fall through.
- uit de voeten maken — to flee or scram hastily.
- van de oude stempel — old-fashioned or adhering to outdated styles and ways of thinking.
- er met een jantje-van-leiden van afmaken — to perform a task carelessly, half-heartedly, or in a slipshod manner.
From our tongue twisters
- Liesje leerde Lotje lopen langs de lange Lindelaan. — Eight consecutive l-words, with the vowel behind the l changing every time.
- De kat krabt de krullen van de trap. — A 'kr' cluster drill — Dutch consonant pileups that beginners approach with dread.
- Als vliegen achter vliegen vliegen, vliegen vliegen vliegen achterna. — The same noun/verb homograph trap as the German version — vliegen does triple duty.