Jeter son dévolu sur quelque chose
Meaning: To settle firmly on something one intends to have.
Language: French
Literally: To cast one's devolution upon something
Category: Daily Life
Origin: In canon law a dévolu was a claim laid on a benefice held by someone deemed unfit, transferring it to the claimant. The legal aggression survives in the modern phrase, which implies the choice is already made.
More idioms — Daily Life
- À Dieu ne plaise — God forbid.
- Dieu reconnaîtra les siens — Act without discriminating and let a higher authority sort out the innocent.
- Mon petit doigt m'a dit — I know something you did not expect me to know.
- Dorer la pilule — To make an unpleasant fact easier to accept by dressing it up.
- Qui dort dîne — Sleep takes the place of a meal you cannot afford.
- Se la couler douce — To take life very easy indeed.
More French idioms
- Des mesures draconiennes — Punishingly severe rules.
- Péter une durite — To lose one's temper completely.
- À l'eau de rose — Insipidly sentimental, especially of fiction.
- L'échapper belle — To have a narrow escape.
- Faire l'école buissonnière — To play truant.
- Ne pas tarir d'éloges — To praise someone endlessly.
From our compliments & insults
- Peau de vache — A mean, difficult, and unpleasant person — tough and unyielding like tanned hide.
- Tu as une cervelle de moineau — You're scatterbrained and forgetful.
- Tu es mon rayon de soleil — A warm way to tell someone they brighten your day.
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