Rouler carrosse
Meaning: To live in grand style.
Language: French
Literally: To roll a carriage
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Keeping a private coach and the horses and servants it required was among the clearest possible displays of wealth under the Ancien Régime. The phrase survives long after the object it describes.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Donner carte blanche — To grant someone complete freedom to act as they see fit.
- Tourner casaque — To switch sides or change allegiance.
- Retourner sa veste — To change one's allegiance opportunistically.
- Coiffer Sainte Catherine — To reach twenty-five while still unmarried — said of a woman.
- Être sujet à caution — To be unreliable; not to be taken at face value.
- Caviarder un texte — To censor a piece of writing by blacking out passages.
More French idioms
- Se serrer la ceinture — To economize and go without.
- La femme de César ne doit pas être soupçonnée — Those in public office must be above even the appearance of wrongdoing.
- Se réduire comme une peau de chagrin — To dwindle away steadily until nothing is left.
- Appuyer sur le champignon — To accelerate hard; to floor it.
- Devoir une fière chandelle à quelqu'un — To owe someone a considerable debt of gratitude.
- Le jeu n'en vaut pas la chandelle — The effort or cost outweighs anything to be gained.
From our tongue twisters
- Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? — A merciless duel between 'ch' and 's'.
- Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cents scies scient six cents cyprès. — An 's' / 'si' minefield.
- Dans ta tente ta tante t'attend. — A gentle 'ta / ten / tan / t'' warm-up that sounds faster than it reads.
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