Pleurer comme une Madeleine
Meaning: To cry copiously and without restraint.
Language: French
Literally: To weep like a Magdalene
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From Mary Magdalene, who in Luke washes Christ's feet with her tears. The identification of her as a repentant sinner is a later conflation of several biblical women, but it is the version the phrase depends on.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Une madeleine de Proust — A small sensory trigger that unlocks a flood of memory.
- Avoir maille à partir avec quelqu'un — To have a quarrel or a bone to pick with someone.
- Faire main basse sur quelque chose — To seize something wholesale.
- S'en laver les mains — To disclaim all responsibility for an outcome.
- Tout le saint-frusquin — The whole lot; everything one owns.
- Manu militari — By force; with physical compulsion.
More French idioms
- Des yeux de merlan frit — A soppy, languishing look.
- Payer en monnaie de singe — To pay with worthless promises instead of money.
- La montagne accouche d'une souris — A vast effort or grand announcement produces something trivial.
- La mouche du coche — Someone who bustles importantly while contributing nothing.
- On n'attrape pas les mouches avec du vinaigre — Gentleness achieves what harshness cannot.
- Prendre la mouche — To take sudden and disproportionate offense.
From our compliments & insults
- Tu as un cœur d'or — You are genuinely kind and generous.
- Tu déchires — You're awesome — you totally rock.
- Bête comme ses pieds — Really not very bright.
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