Jeter la première pierre
Meaning: To be the first to condemn someone.
Language: French
Literally: To cast the first stone
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From John's gospel, where Jesus tells the crowd gathered to stone an adulterous woman that whoever is without sin should start. Nobody does, which is the point the phrase usually forgets.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Avoir pignon sur rue — To be soundly established, with a visible and respectable position.
- Jouer à pile ou face — To decide by tossing a coin.
- Un pince-sans-rire — Someone who jokes with a completely straight face.
- N'être pas à prendre avec des pincettes — To be in such a foul mood as to be unapproachable.
- Damer le pion à quelqu'un — To outmaneuver someone decisively.
- Pas piqué des vers — Remarkable; really something.
More French idioms
- Savonner la planche à quelqu'un — To sabotage someone quietly so they fail.
- Glisser une peau de banane — To engineer someone's public downfall.
- Battre son plein — To be in full swing.
- Péter les plombs — To lose one's temper completely.
- Faire le point — To take stock of where things stand.
- Pomme de discorde — The particular thing two parties are fighting over.
From our proverbs
- A famine in England begins at the horse-manger. — Poor grain management for livestock presages broader scarcity throughout the land.
- Fancy may bolt bran and think it flour. — Imagination can disguise inferior things as valuable when we fail to examine them closely.
- You may go farther and fare worse. — Pursuing distant goals risks worse outcomes than accepting present imperfect circumstance…
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