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Гол как сокол (Gol kak sokol)

Meaning: Dirt poor; without a thing to your name.

Language: Russian

Literally: Bare as a falcon

Category: Daily Life

Origin: The 'sokol' here was a smooth iron battering ram, not the bird; 'bare as the ram' pictures having absolutely nothing.

More idioms — Daily Life

  • 石橋を叩いて渡る (Ishibashi o tataite wataru) — To be extremely, even excessively, cautious.
  • 釘を刺す (kugi o sasu) — To remind someone firmly so they can't back out.
  • 班门弄斧 (bān mén nòng fǔ) — To display feeble skill before a true master.
  • 名落孙山 (míng luò Sūn Shān) — To fail an examination.
  • De dans ontspringen — To narrowly escape trouble.
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  • книга за семью печатями (kniga za sem'yu pechatyami) — Something utterly mysterious and incomprehensible; a complete enigma.
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  • за тридевять земель (za tridevyat' zemel') — An extremely distant, remote place; somewhere impossibly far away.
  • проверять на вшивость (proveryat' na shivost') — To scrutinize or investigate someone closely to uncover hidden faults or problems; to vet…

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