IdiomAnimals
French
FrenchJeter sa gourme
Meaning: To sow one's wild oats.
Literally: To throw off one's strangles
Example: “Il a jeté sa gourme pendant ses études avant de devenir un père de famille sérieux.” — He sowed his wild oats at college before becoming a serious family man.
English equivalent: To sow one's wild oats
Equivalents in other languages
German: sich die Hörner abstoßen Literally: To knock off one's horns
English: sow one's wild oats
Origin: La gourme is strangles, a respiratory infection that young horses characteristically get and recover from. Throwing it off was the sign of having passed through youth, which is exactly what the phrase claims for the young man.
More French idioms
- Une tête de linotte A scatterbrain.
- La part du lion By far the largest portion, taken by the strongest party.
- Être connu comme le loup blanc To be known by absolutely everyone.
- Se jeter dans la gueule du loup To walk straight into obvious danger.
- Un vieux loup de mer A seasoned old sailor.
- Avoir des yeux de lynx To have extremely sharp eyesight, or to notice everything.
Explore another collection: Proverbs
Short sayings of timeless wisdom from more than 50 cultures, each with its meaning and origin.
- Un malheur ne vient jamais seul Misfortunes tend to come several at once.
- Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir It is better to stop a problem before it happens than to fix it afterwards.
- On n'a rien sans rien You have to give something, effort or money, to get something.
Keep exploring