IdiomFood & Drink
French
FrenchMettre les bouchées doubles
Meaning: To work twice as hard in order to catch up.
Literally: To take double mouthfuls
Example: “À deux jours des examens, elle met les bouchées doubles.” — Two days before exams, she's working twice as hard.
Origin: The image is of eating at twice the normal rate to finish a meal in half the time. It is about compressing a fixed amount of work into less time, not about doing more of it.
More French idioms
- Clouer le bec à quelqu'un To silence someone completely, usually with an unanswerable reply.
- Se crêper le chignon To have a furious quarrel — said of women.
- Avoir les yeux de Chimène pour quelqu'un To be visibly smitten with someone or something.
- Se faire des cheveux blancs To worry oneself sick.
- Haut les cœurs ! Take courage; lift your spirits.
- Aux calendes grecques Never — used of something postponed indefinitely.
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