Se faire blackbouler
Meaning: To be rejected, voted down or heavily defeated in an election.
Language: French
Literally: To get black-balled
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From the English blackball: club members voted on candidates by dropping balls into an urn, a single black one being enough to exclude. French borrowed the word in the 19th century and verbed it.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Une arme blanche — A bladed weapon, as opposed to a firearm.
- Blanchir de l'argent — To launder money.
- Au petit bonheur la chance — Haphazardly, leaving the outcome entirely to chance.
- Avoir la bosse de — To have a natural gift for something, as in avoir la bosse des maths.
- Aller à Canossa — To humble oneself completely before someone; to submit and beg forgiveness.
- Parler à la cantonade — To speak to a group at large without addressing anyone in particular.
More French idioms
- Rabattre le caquet à quelqu'un — To shut someone up; to take an insolent person down a peg.
- Caracoler en tête — To lead by a wide margin, especially in a race or in polls.
- Muet comme une carpe — Completely silent; saying absolutely nothing.
- La caque sent toujours le hareng — However far you rise, low origins always show through.
- Un capitaine d'industrie — The head of a large company.
- Il n'y a pas loin du Capitole à la roche Tarpéienne — Glory and disgrace are close neighbors — the fall can follow the honors very quickly.
From our untranslatable words
- Épanouissement — The full flourishing of a person — blooming into your most complete, radiant self. More t…
- Ressourcement — The act of returning to one's roots or origins to find renewal — going back to a place, t…
- Dépaysement — The disorienting yet often pleasant feeling of being far from home, immersed in the unfam…
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