FrenchRôtir le balai
Meaning: To live in poverty — and later, to live a life of debauchery.
Literally: To roast the broom
Example: “Avant de devenir célèbre, le peintre a rôti le balai pendant des années.” — Before becoming famous, the painter lived in poverty for years.
Origin: The original sense, in force from the 16th century, is destitution taken to its logical end: with no firewood left you burn the broom. Nobody is roasting it to eat it; they are trying to keep warm on the last thing that will burn. In the 18th century, in Rousseau, the meaning inverts completely, and there is no certainty about why. The usual guess involves witches, who ride their brooms to the sabbath — a gathering with a reputation — and pass near enough to the flames of hell to scorch the bristles. That reading would also explain why the phrase was applied above all to women of loose living.
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