IdiomDaily LifeFrench

Remettre en train

Meaning: To restart or reactivate something that has stopped or slowed down.

Literally: To put back in train

Example: “Un bon café l'a remis en train après la sieste.” — A good cup of coffee got him going again after his nap.

Origin: Train here has nothing to do with railways: long before trains existed, it meant movement, pace or progress, as in aller bon train (to go at a good pace). Mettre en train was to set something going, and Littré quotes Molière, Pascal and Madame de Sévigné using en train; in 1681 Sévigné wished a friend a lottery prize that would have put him back en train, in better spirits. To put something back en train is to restart it, or to revive someone's energy.

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