De derrière les fagots
Meaning: The very best, kept back for a special occasion.
Language: French
Literally: From behind the firewood
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: The good bottles were stored at the back of the cellar behind the stacked firewood, out of reach of casual drinking and of visitors. Producing something de derrière les fagots is bringing out what was deliberately hidden.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- À la fortune du pot — Taking potluck; sharing whatever happens to be cooking.
- Séparer le bon grain de l'ivraie — To distinguish what is valuable from what is worthless.
- Se demander si c'est du lard ou du cochon — To be unable to tell what something is or how it is meant.
- Une autre paire de manches — A different matter entirely; a far harder proposition.
- Faire du lèche-vitrine — To go window shopping.
- C'est la mer à boire — It is an impossible or endless task — most often used in the negative.
More French idioms
- Avoir les coudées franches — To have complete freedom of action.
- Battre sa coulpe — To publicly acknowledge one's own wrongdoing.
- Le petit doigt sur la couture du pantalon — Standing rigidly to attention; obeying without question.
- Ôter une épine du pied à quelqu'un — To relieve someone of a persistent difficulty.
- Un écorché vif — Someone painfully hypersensitive to everything around them.
- Se croire sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter — To have an absurdly high opinion of one's own importance.
From our untranslatable words
- L'esprit de l'escalier — Thinking of the perfect comeback only after the moment has passed — on your way down the…
- Terroir — The unique character that a place — its soil, climate and tradition — gives to a wine or…
- Râler — To complain and grumble with a certain national flair — a beloved French pastime.
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