have itchy feet
Meaning: To feel a restless urge to travel or move on.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “After two years in the same town, I'm starting to get itchy feet.”
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: American in origin: the earliest known example is a 1906 poem in The Sun of Baltimore. The urge to travel is felt as an itch that only moving on can scratch.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: avoir les pieds qui démangent — literally: to have itchy feet
- Filipino: Makati ang paa — literally: Itchy feet
More idioms — Body & Senses
- wait on someone hand and foot — To do everything for someone, attending to their every need.
- have a sharp tongue — To speak in a harsh, cutting way.
- cut one's teeth — To gain one's first experience of something.
- be scared stiff — To be so frightened that one cannot move.
- with one hand tied behind one's back — Very easily; or, when forced on someone, at a great disadvantage.
- have a heart of gold — To be very kind and generous.
More English idioms
- bare one's teeth — To show hostility and a readiness to fight.
- one's eyes are bigger than one's stomach — To take more food than one can eat; more broadly, to want more than one can handle.
- have a memory like an elephant — To remember things, especially slights, for a very long time.
- be in the thick of it — To be in the busiest or most intense part of an activity.
- have stars in one's eyes — To be dazzled or dreamily idealistic, especially about love or fame.
- hit a snag — To run into an unexpected problem.
From our compliments & insults
- 石頭 (Ishiatama) — A stubborn, inflexible person who won't budge.
- Tu as du chien — You have a certain irresistible magnetism — a je-ne-sais-quoi that draws people in.
- Tu as la tête sur les épaules — You're grounded, sensible, and dependable — not easily swept off course.