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Être médusé

Meaning: To be struck dumb with astonishment.

Language: French

Literally: To be Medusa'd

Category: Body & Senses

Origin: From Medusa, whose gaze turned onlookers to stone. French made a verb of the Gorgon and kept only the paralysis, dropping the horror.

More idioms — Body & Senses

  • Motus et bouche cousue — Not a word to anyone.
  • À fleur de peau — Raw and easily provoked, of emotions; or just at the surface.
  • Avoir bon pied bon œil — To be in excellent shape, especially for one's age.
  • Avoir le pied marin — To keep one's balance on a moving deck; to be unshaken by turbulence.
  • Au pied levé — At a moment's notice, with no preparation.
  • Se noyer dans un verre d'eau — To be defeated by the smallest difficulty.

More French idioms

  • Merde ! — Good luck — said to a performer before going on stage.
  • Voilà pourquoi votre fille est muette — Said of a grand explanation that explains nothing.
  • Passez, muscade ! — Hey presto — said when something vanishes suspiciously conveniently.
  • Se croire le premier moutardier du pape — To have a wildly inflated sense of one's own importance.
  • Mystère et boule de gomme — Nobody has the faintest idea.
  • Promettre monts et merveilles — To promise far more than could ever be delivered.

From our untranslatable words

  • Épanouissement — The full flourishing of a person — blooming into your most complete, radiant self. More t…
  • Ressourcement — The act of returning to one's roots or origins to find renewal — going back to a place, t…
  • Dépaysement — The disorienting yet often pleasant feeling of being far from home, immersed in the unfam…

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