IdiomBody & Senses
Russian
RussianПоложить зубы на полку (Polozhit' zuby na polku)
Meaning: To go hungry; to tighten your belt.
Literally: To put your teeth on the shelf
Example: “После потери работы им пришлось положить зубы на полку.” — After losing the job, they had to tighten their belts.
English equivalent: To tighten one's belt
Equivalents in other languages
Hungarian: Felkopik az álla Literally: His chin wears thin
French: Réduire la voilure Literally: To reduce the sail
English: tighten one's belt- French: Se serrer la ceinture Literally: To tighten one's belt
Origin: Michelson's 19th-century phrase dictionary explains it by spinning: the зубья (teeth) of the toothed tools used for spinning were put away on the shelf when there was nothing to spin, and with no work came hunger. Today it is heard with the eater's own teeth in mind, set aside because there is nothing to chew. Michelson quotes it from Saltykov-Shchedrin and from Turgenev's Virgin Soil (1877).
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Explore another collection: Untranslatable Words
Words that capture a feeling or idea English needs a whole sentence for.
- Beloruchka Someone who dodges dirty or hard work — a person whose hands stay conspicuously clean.
- Zapoi A bender running for days, in which a person drops out of ordinary life entirely.
- Toska A dull ache of the soul; a great longing with nothing in particular to long for.
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