Faire flèche de tout bois
Meaning: To use every available means to achieve an end.
Language: French
Literally: To make an arrow of any wood
Category: Nature
Origin: Good arrow shafts required straight, seasoned wood, so an archer reduced to using whatever is at hand is improvising under pressure. The phrase carries approval of the resourcefulness, not the desperation.
More idioms — Nature
- Blanchir sous le harnais — To grow old in a profession.
- Entre le marteau et l'enclume — Caught between two opposing forces with no way out.
- Un pavé dans la mare — A revelation or intervention that disturbs a settled situation.
- Il y a de l'orage dans l'air — Trouble is brewing.
- Rouler sur l'or — To be enormously wealthy.
- Valoir son pesant d'or — To be extremely valuable.
More French idioms
- De fil en aiguille — One thing leading to another.
- Un fil d'Ariane — A guiding thread through something impossibly complicated.
- En file indienne — In single file, one behind another.
- La fin justifie les moyens — A worthwhile goal excuses whatever it takes to reach it.
- Conter fleurette — To woo someone with sweet talk.
- Des manœuvres florentines — Devious, elaborately indirect political scheming.
From our false friends
- Chance — Actually means 'luck'. Bonne chance! = Good luck! For chance (probability), say une possi…
- Sympathique — Actually means 'nice' or 'pleasant'. Il est très sympathique = He's very nice — not 'He's…
- Rester — Actually means 'to stay' or 'to remain'. Je reste ici = I'm staying here — not taking a n…
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