passer un savon
Meaning: To scold or rebuke someone harshly.
Language: French
Literally: to pass a soap
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Origin uncertain; the phrase may picture the violent scrubbing action of soap, or possibly derive from a vulgar or now-obsolete image.
More idioms — Daily Life
- baisser pavillon — To concede defeat or accept inferiority; to surrender.
- être dos au mur — To be in a desperate situation with no way to retreat or escape.
- chercher des misères — To deliberately provoke a quarrel with someone.
- retourner à la case départ — To find oneself back where one began, as if no progress had been made.
- sentir la naphtaline — To be old-fashioned or antiquated.
- passer maître — To become the foremost expert in something.
More French idioms
- tenir du miracle — To be exceptional or extraordinary; to have a miraculous quality.
- ne pas fermer l’œil de la nuit — To be unable to sleep; to stay awake all night.
- réduire la voilure — To cut back on spending, resources, or ambitions.
- se mettre la rate au court-bouillon — To worry pointlessly and obsessively over something.
- prendre à la gorge — To seize someone or something forcefully; to make breathing or speech difficult; to trigg…
- regarder la pointe de ses souliers — To lower one's eyes in embarrassment or shame.
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.