Un panier de crabes
Meaning: A group whose members constantly undermine one another.
Language: French
Literally: A basket of crabs
Category: Animals
Origin: Crabs in an open basket need no lid: each one that starts to climb out is pulled back by the others. The image is used of institutions and boardrooms rather than of individuals.
More idioms — Animals
- Chat échaudé craint l'eau froide — One bad experience makes you wary even where there is no danger.
- Une faim de loup — Ravenous hunger.
- Tailler des croupières à quelqu'un — To harass an opponent and make life difficult for them.
- Mettre le pied à l'étrier à quelqu'un — To give someone the help they need to get started.
- Gagner ses éperons — To prove oneself and earn recognition.
- Un mauvais coucheur — A cantankerous, difficult person.
More French idioms
- Un cordon-bleu — An outstanding cook.
- Il y a loin de la coupe aux lèvres — Much can still go wrong between intention and result.
- Né avec une cuillère d'argent dans la bouche — Born into wealth and advantage.
- Des économies de bouts de chandelle — Petty economies that save nothing worth having.
- Un étouffe-chrétien — Food so dense and stodgy it is hard to swallow.
- Mettre de l'eau dans son vin — To moderate one's demands or soften one's position.
From our proverbs
- Bachelors grin, but married men laugh till their hearts ache. — A bachelor's idle grin can't match the fuller joys — and aches — of married life.
- Bachelors' wives and maids' children are always well taught. — Unmarried people confidently advise on parenting despite lacking the humbling reality of…
- Where bad's the best, naught must be the choice. — When all options are flawed, refusing to participate entirely becomes the wisest decision.
Loading the full interactive collection…