Mettre le holà
Meaning: To put a stop to something.
Language: French
Literally: To put the holà
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Holà is an interjection from the middle of the 14th century, assembled — the Grand Robert says, and it is hard to argue — out of ho and là. It did two jobs. It hailed people (holà, qui va là ? — who goes there?), and it stopped them: a quarrel getting out of hand or a guest overstepping would draw a holà, suffit ! — that's enough — and a team of horses was pulled up with the same word, when they felt like listening. The expression grows out of that second job, arriving in the middle of the 17th century, with faire holà and dire holà a little earlier.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Rire jaune — To force a laugh; to laugh while plainly not amused.
- En jeter / Ça en jette ! — To look genuinely impressive.
- Con comme la lune — Exceptionally stupid.
- Faire un malheur — To cause a scene with serious consequences — or, oppositely, to be a runaway success.
- Se faire la malle — To clear off; to make a run for it.
- Faire le mariole — To show off; to play the smart aleck.
More French idioms
- Ça me fait une belle jambe — That is no use to me whatsoever.
- Y a pas de lézard ! — No problem; it's all fine.
- Se retrouver une main devant, une main derrière — To be left with absolutely nothing.
- Avoir vu le loup — Said of a young woman, to have had sex; also, in some regions, to be hoarse.
- Ne pas y aller de main morte — To hit hard; to act without the slightest restraint.
- Bourrer le mou — To feed someone lies; to try to con them.
From our tongue twisters
- 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…
- Didon dîna, dit-on, du dos d'un dodu dindon dont le dodu dos dodine. — A 'd' / 'din' / 'dod' avalanche that seems designed to jam the tongue in third gear.
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