Le fer de lance
Meaning: The leading element of an effort; the part that goes in first.
Language: French
Literally: The spearhead
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The iron head is the only part of a spear that does any work, the shaft existing to deliver it. Used of products, units and campaigns.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Avoir le feu sacré — To be driven by genuine, burning vocation.
- Être tout feu tout flamme — To be full of ardent enthusiasm.
- Faire fi de quelque chose — To scorn something; to dismiss it as beneath notice.
- Des grosses ficelles — Crude, obvious tricks that fool nobody.
- Cousu de fil blanc — So obvious that the deception is plainly visible.
- Mettre le doigt dans l'engrenage — To take a first small step that drags you into something far larger.
More French idioms
- Le dos au feu et le ventre à table — In a state of complete physical contentment.
- 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.
- 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.
From our tongue twisters
- Dans ta tente ta tante t'attend. — A gentle 'ta / ten / tan / t'' warm-up that sounds faster than it reads.
- Seize chaises sèches sur seize arches sèches. — A relentless collision of 'sei', 'sèch', and 's' — the tongue can't find traction.
- Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
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