Gagner ses éperons
Meaning: To prove oneself and earn recognition.
Language: French
Literally: To win one's spurs
Category: Animals
Origin: Gilt spurs were conferred at knighting and were the visible mark of the rank, struck off in a public degradation if the knight disgraced himself. Earning them meant having demonstrated something rather than merely been given it.
More idioms — Animals
- Un mauvais coucheur — A cantankerous, difficult person.
- Ronger son frein — To wait in barely contained impatience.
- Jeter sa gourme — To sow one's wild oats.
- Tirer à hue et à dia — To pull in opposite directions; to work at cross purposes.
- Une grenouille de bénitier — A woman conspicuously and tiresomely devout.
- Faire le pied de grue — To stand around waiting for a long time.
More French idioms
- Un cordon-bleu — An outstanding cook.
- Il y a loin de la coupe aux lèvres — Much can still go wrong between intention and result.
- Né avec une cuillère d'argent dans la bouche — Born into wealth and advantage.
- Des économies de bouts de chandelle — Petty economies that save nothing worth having.
- Un étouffe-chrétien — Food so dense and stodgy it is hard to swallow.
- Mettre de l'eau dans son vin — To moderate one's demands or soften one's position.
From our proverbs
- He that cannot abide a bad market deserves not a good one. — Profiting from favorable conditions requires enduring the inevitable downturns with patie…
- Bring not a bagpipe to a man in trouble. — Unwanted noise or distraction worsens suffering; provide comfort matching the sufferer's…
- He is most loved that hath most bags. — Wealth attracts companionship more reliably than virtue or character ever will.
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