Tenir la chandelle
Meaning: To be the awkward third party to a couple.
Language: French
Literally: To hold the candle
Category: Daily Life
Origin: A servant once stood by the marriage bed holding a light, obliged to be present and obliged to see nothing. The role's excruciating superfluity transferred neatly to the friend who has come along on someone else's date.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Sur les chapeaux de roues — At top speed; also, of a start, immediately and forcefully.
- Avoir voix au chapitre — To have a say in a decision.
- Trouver chaussure à son pied — To find exactly the right match, usually a partner.
- Ne pas y aller par quatre chemins — To come straight to the point.
- Tous les chemins mènent à Rome — There are many routes to the same result.
- Un chevalier d'industrie — A swindler who lives by his wits at others' expense.
More French idioms
- La cheville ouvrière — The linchpin — the person or thing on which an entire operation turns.
- Une chiffe molle — A spineless person with no will of their own.
- Être au septième ciel — To be in a state of perfect happiness.
- Mettre la clé sous la porte — To shut up shop; to go out of business.
- Ne pas être grand clerc — Not to be much of an expert — used to say that no expertise is needed to see something.
- Déménager à la cloche de bois — To do a moonlight flit, leaving without paying the rent.
From our false friends
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- Phrase — Actually means 'sentence'. For a short phrase or expression, say une expression.
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