Empurrar com a barriga
Meaning: To procrastinate; to keep delaying something.
Language: Portuguese
Literally: To push with the belly
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: "Empurrar," to push, has an origin that is itself not fully settled, though it's plausibly related to Spanish empujar. "Barriga," belly, developed as a figurative extension of barrica, a cask or barrel, borrowed from French barrique — a rounded, bulging container lending its shape to the human midsection by simple visual comparison. Pushing something forward using only your belly, rather than the far more effective and deliberate use of your hands, produces movement so slow, awkward, and minimal that it barely counts as real effort — a vivid physical image for the same kind of reluctant, drawn-out procrastination the idiom now describes, especially a task or decision repeatedly nudged along just enough to avoid actually resolving it.
Equivalents in other languages
- Russian: Тянуть кота за хвост (Tyanut' kota za khvost) — literally: To pull the cat by the tail
More idioms — Body & Senses
- Τρώω τα νύχια μου — I'm extremely anxious and impatient.
- Casser les pieds à quelqu'un — To annoy or bore someone greatly.
- Avoir un poil dans la main — To be extremely lazy.
- Prendre ses jambes à son cou — To run away very fast.
- Se lever du pied gauche — To wake up in a bad mood.
- Mettre les pieds dans le plat — To put one's foot in it; to say something awkward or blunt.
More Portuguese idioms
- Matar a cobra e mostrar o pau — To prove you actually did what you claim.
- dar um jeito — Find a creative solution or workaround, often bending rules pragmatically.
- estar com a corda no pescoço — Be in serious financial or personal trouble with no easy escape.
- meter os pés pelas mãos — Make a clumsy mistake or bungle something badly through carelessness.
- estar com água na boca — Feel eager anticipation or desire, especially for food or something pleasant.
- Viajar na maionese — To talk nonsense or drift off into your own dream world.
From our compliments & insults
- Você é um amor — You're a sweetheart — warm, caring, and impossible not to like.
- Você tem muita garra — You have fierce, relentless determination — you claw your way through any obstacle.
- És uma joia — You're a gem — a precious, lovely person.