IdiomNature
French
FrenchFaire flèche de tout bois
Meaning: To use every available means to achieve an end.
Literally: To make an arrow of any wood
Example: “Pour financer le nouveau terrain, le club fait flèche de tout bois : tombola, vide-grenier, mécènes.” — To pay for the new field, the club is pulling out all the stops: raffle, yard sale, sponsors.
English equivalent: To pull out all the stops
Equivalents in other languages
Spanish: Tirar la casa por la ventana Literally: To throw the house through the window
English: To pull out all the stops
Swedish: sätta till alla klutar Literally: To set all the sails
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 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.
- Conter fleurette To woo someone with sweet talk.
- Des manœuvres florentines Devious, elaborately indirect political scheming.
- De bonne foi Sincerely, without intent to deceive.
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