Tirer le diable par la queue
Meaning: To struggle to make ends meet.
Language: French
Literally: To pull the devil by the tail
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The destitute, with nothing left, resort even to tugging the devil for help; attested in French since the 17th century.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Mettre la charrue avant les bœufs — To do things in the wrong order.
- Tirer son épingle du jeu — To extract yourself cleverly from a tricky situation.
- To burn the midnight oil — To work late into the night.
- To throw a spanner in the works — To sabotage or disrupt a plan.
- A skeleton in the closet — A shameful secret kept hidden.
- To read the riot act — To reprimand someone sternly.
More French idioms
- Passer du coq à l'âne — To switch topics abruptly and illogically.
- Avoir le melon — To be bigheaded and conceited.
- Avoir le cœur sur la main — To be very generous and giving.
- Être soupe au lait — To be quick-tempered and flare up easily.
- Ne pas être sorti de l'auberge — To be far from done with one's troubles.
- Avoir la pêche — To be full of energy and on top form.
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…