IdiomDaily Life
French
FrenchTirer à boulets rouges
Meaning: To attack someone ferociously and without restraint.
Literally: To fire with red cannonballs
Example: “L'opposition tire à boulets rouges sur le projet de budget.” — The opposition is tearing into the budget bill with everything it has.
English equivalent: To come down on someone like a ton of bricks
Other ways to say this
- French: Comme la vérole sur le bas clergé Literally: Like the pox on the lower clergy
English: come down on someone like a ton of bricks
Origin: Cannonballs heated red-hot in a furnace were fired to set enemy ships and buildings alight — a deliberate escalation beyond ordinary shot. The phrase marks an attack meant not just to hit but to destroy.
More French idioms
- De but en blanc Point-blank; abruptly and without preparation.
- Avoir un cadavre dans le placard To have a discreditable secret in one's past.
- C'est le cadet de mes soucis It is the very least of my concerns.
- Fumer le calumet de la paix To make peace after a quarrel.
- Enterrer la hache de guerre To end a feud and set hostilities aside.
- Carpe diem Make the most of the present rather than counting on the future.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.
- 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.
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