En quarantaine
Meaning: In quarantine; isolated from contact.
Language: French
Literally: In fortyness
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From the forty days ships were held offshore during plague outbreaks, a practice formalized in Venice and Ragusa in the 14th century. The number is fixed in the word even though the period stopped being forty days long ago.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Tomber en quenouille — To decline into neglect; to fall apart through mismanagement.
- Sans queue ni tête — Making no sense at all.
- Être sur le qui-vive — To be tensely alert.
- En rade — Stranded; left behind.
- Faire du ramdam — To make a great deal of noise.
- Un remède de bonne femme — A folk cure of doubtful value.
More French idioms
- Tirer sa révérence — To take one's leave, with a show of formality.
- À tour de rôle — Each in turn.
- Un rond-de-cuir — A petty bureaucrat.
- Au bout du rouleau — Completely exhausted; at the end of one's resources.
- Hommes de sac et de corde — Thorough scoundrels.
- L'affaire est dans le sac — It is as good as settled.
From our false friends
- Librairie — Actually means 'bookshop'. A library is une bibliothèque.
- Pain — Actually means 'bread'. The hurting kind of pain is la douleur.
- Coin — Actually means 'corner'. A coin you spend is une pièce.
Loading the full interactive collection…