Le dos au feu et le ventre à table
Meaning: In a state of complete physical contentment.
Language: French
Literally: Back to the fire and belly to the table
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The two conditions of comfort in a house heated by one hearth: warmth behind and food in front. It describes a satisfaction that is entirely bodily and makes no apology for it.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Marquer à la culotte — To watch someone so closely they cannot move freely.
- Revoir sa copie — To go back and rework a proposal that has been rejected.
- De fil en aiguille — One thing leading to another.
- Un fil d'Ariane — A guiding thread through something impossibly complicated.
- En file indienne — In single file, one behind another.
- La fin justifie les moyens — A worthwhile goal excuses whatever it takes to reach it.
More French idioms
- Ronger son frein — To wait in barely contained impatience.
- Jeter sa gourme — To sow one's wild oats.
- Tirer à hue et à dia — To pull in opposite directions; to work at cross purposes.
- Une grenouille de bénitier — A woman conspicuously and tiresomely devout.
- Faire le pied de grue — To stand around waiting for a long time.
- Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps — A single encouraging sign does not prove a trend.
From our compliments & insults
- Espèce de patate — You dim bulb — a potato being the very picture of inert, unthinking stodginess.
- Quel râleur / quelle râleuse — You never stop moaning — everything is a complaint, nothing is ever good enough.
- Peau de vache — A mean, difficult, and unpleasant person — tough and unyielding like tanned hide.
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