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ne plus savoir où donner de la tête

Meaning: To be overwhelmed with work or demands.

Language: French

Literally: to no longer know where to put one's head

Category: Body & Senses

Origin: The phrase pictures someone so beset on all sides that they have no place to turn their head, besieged by competing needs.

More idioms — Body & Senses

  • avoir les yeux qui sortent de la tête — To stare with eyes wide open in anger or astonishment.
  • faire baiser les verges — To force someone you have mistreated to beg your pardon.
  • retourner l’estomac — To disgust or sicken someone, to make them feel nauseous.
  • ne pas garder les yeux dans sa poche — To be observant and alert; to miss nothing.
  • donner du poing sur la table — To express strong disagreement or disapproval with a situation.
  • avoir sur les bras — To be burdened with or responsible for someone or something; to be occupied with a demand…

More French idioms

  • faire le pont-levis — For a horse to rear up very high.
  • remonter plus haut — To begin a story or explanation at an earlier point in time to clarify or better illumina…
  • être victime de son succès — To suffer problems or difficulties that arise as a result of becoming too successful.
  • n’avoir qu’à bien se tenir — A warning or threat implying that one must behave properly or face consequences.
  • battre les fourrés — To range far and wide in search of adventure or chance encounters.
  • recoller les morceaux — to repair a broken relationship or reconcile after a quarrel.

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