donner du poing sur la table
Meaning: To express strong disagreement or disapproval with a situation.
Language: French
Literally: to give a fist on the table
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: The image is of a forceful physical gesture—striking a surface—as a bold assertion of one's position.
More idioms — Body & Senses
- avoir sur les bras — To be burdened with or responsible for someone or something; to be occupied with a demand…
- ne s’être pas regardé — to judge others harshly while being blind to one's own equal or greater faults.
- ne pas en croire ses oreilles — To be startled or disbelieving upon hearing something astonishing.
- se composer le visage — To adopt a serious or carefully studied expression suited to the circumstances.
- être de mauvais poil — To be in a bad mood or irritable disposition.
- se casser la figure — To fall to the ground; to have an accident or suffer a collapse.
More French idioms
- recoller les morceaux — to repair a broken relationship or reconcile after a quarrel.
- brûler ses dernières cartouches — to exhaust one's final resources or use one's last arguments in desperation.
- ne pas tourner rond — to be unwell or not functioning properly.
- passer un mauvais quart d’heure — to experience a brief but unpleasant or distressing moment.
- envoyer des piques — To make cutting or barbed remarks intended to irritate or provoke someone.
- prendre le maquis — To go into hiding or join a resistance movement to escape authority or persecution.
From our compliments & insults
- Bête comme ses pieds — Really not very bright.
- Avoir un poil dans la main — To be incurably lazy.
- Tête de linotte — A scatterbrain who can't hold a thought.