être sur la brèche
Meaning: Being actively engaged in battle or difficult work.
Language: French
Literally: to be on the breach
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Military terminology; soldiers stand ready at breaches in fortifications.
More idioms — Daily Life
- être du voyage — Being involved in an illicit or questionable scheme.
- faire le gendarme — Acting authoritarian or enforcing rules with excessive zeal.
- irse por los cerros de Úbeda — To digress or wander off-topic during conversation without purpose or reason.
- 소 잃고 외양간 고친다 (So ilkko oeyanggan gochinda) — Taking preventive action only after suffering loss; closing the stable door after the hor…
- 백지장도 맞들면 낫다 (Baekjijangdo matdeulmyeon natda) — Cooperation and teamwork make even difficult tasks easier; many hands make light work.
- работать спустя рукава (rabotat' spustya rukava) — To work carelessly, half-heartedly, without proper effort or attention.
More French idioms
- faire ses griffes — Practicing or preparing oneself for a challenging task or confrontation.
- manger du bout des lèvres — Eating without appetite or showing disinterest in the meal.
- avoir une peur bleue — Being terrified or extremely frightened of something.
- avoir des étoiles dans les yeux — Being dreamy, hopeful, or enchanted by romantic ideals.
- faire un couac — Making an embarrassing mistake or producing a discordant sound.
- Quand les poules auront des dents — Never — it describes something that will simply never happen.
From our tongue twisters
- Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
- Didon dîna, dit-on, du dos d'un dodu dindon dont le dodu dos dodine. — A 'd' / 'din' / 'dod' avalanche that seems designed to jam the tongue in third gear.
- Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. — The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.