Home › Idioms

Proposer la botte à quelqu'un

Meaning: To proposition someone sexually.

Language: French

Literally: To propose the thrust to someone

Category: Daily Life

Origin: Botte is the fencing term for a thrust or lunge, and porter une botte was to deliver one. The transfer to a sexual advance is old and was never especially subtle.

More idioms — Daily Life

  • Pousser le bouchon un peu loin — To go too far; to overstep.
  • Tirer à boulets rouges — To attack someone ferociously and without restraint.
  • Sans bourse délier — Without spending a penny.
  • Un branle-bas de combat — Frantic preparation; a general commotion.
  • Battre en brèche — To attack a position or argument until it collapses.
  • Une brève de comptoir — An overheard bar-room witticism, usually absurd and unintentionally profound.

More French idioms

  • Cela va faire du bruit dans Landerneau — That is going to cause a stir.
  • Brut de décoffrage — Rough, unpolished, delivered without any finishing.
  • De but en blanc — Point-blank; abruptly and without preparation.
  • Avoir un cadavre dans le placard — To have a discreditable secret in one's past.
  • C'est le cadet de mes soucis — It is the very least of my concerns.
  • Fumer le calumet de la paix — To make peace after a quarrel.

From our false friends

  • Phrase — Actually means 'sentence'. For a short phrase or expression, say une expression.
  • Ignorer — Actually means 'to be unaware of' or 'not to know'. J'ignore la réponse = I don't know th…
  • Déception — Actually means 'disappointment'. For deception (a trick), say tromperie.

Browse all false friends →

← Back to Idioms

Explore more: Proverbs Compliments & Insults False Friends Untranslatable Words Tongue Twisters

Loading the full interactive collection…