IdiomDaily Life
English
Englishtake someone down a peg
Meaning: To make an arrogant person more humble.
Example: “Losing in the first round took the defending champion down a peg.”
Origin: Recorded from the late 16th century as "take down a peg" or "bring down a peg." The pegs have been linked to ships' flags, to drinking vessels with peg markers and to musical tuning pegs, but none of these explanations is proven.
Equivalents in other languages
French: Rabattre le caquet à quelqu'un Literally: To beat down someone's cackle
More English idioms
- kick against the pricks To resist authority or fate in a way that only hurts oneself.
- hell for leather As fast as possible.
- buy a pig in a poke To buy something without examining it first.
- a Trojan horse Something that seems harmless but hides a threat inside.
- drain the cup to the dregs To endure a hardship or humiliation to the very end.
- the icing on the cake An extra good thing added to something already good.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.
- She sells seashells by the seashore. The definitive 's' versus 'sh' alternation — the tongue has to switch place of articulati…
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.
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