Animalist Idiom

The French language includes/understands many Idiotisme S animalists word for word generally untranslatable in another language.

Category: French expressions|French expressions

Bodies

wing

to have wings: to feel light.
to have lead in the wing: to be in difficulty.
to beat wing: to be in difficulty.
to burn the wings: to fail in an ambitious company.
to fly of its own wings: to be independent.
to have a blow in the wing: to be drunk.

Nozzle

nozzle-of-duck: handle of door whose form points out a nozzle, which makes it possible to drive the bolt of a Serrure without the assistance of a key .
rave-hook: grip to cut the wire.
Harelip: malformation of the lips and the palate.
nozzle of parrot: vertebral osteophytes.
row: dispute.
to nail the nozzle: to oblige somebody has to keep silent
claquer nozzle: to die of hunger

stupid

stupid with Good god: ladybird.
stupid of scene: particularly powerful artist in public.
pet peeve: thing or nobody whom one fears particularly.
to nit-pick: Pinailler
play of the animal with two backs: Coitus, while speaking about the human ones.
muscular like a stupid of storm: runt.
to take the animal with grains hair
to take again hair of the animal: to be restored, take again courage.

reproductive bodies

in effectiveness: goat, pig.
in frequency: rabbit.
in quality: ass, stag, horse, roe-deer, pig, bear, bull.
in the face: ass, horse, bull, fly, dromedary

feather

to fly in the feathers: to violently begin some with somebody
to leave feathers: to undergo a loss
the beautiful feathers make the beautiful birds: one can mislead by his appearance

tail

with the tail leu leu: in Indian file. (see wolf)
to make a cut in front: after a going beyond, to fold back itself abruptly.
to finish in cut in front: in reference to the poetic Art of Horace " Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne" , to finish brutally, in a disappointing way, by leaving the reader or the listener on his hunger. (see also tail , siren )
to leave the tail enters the legs: to leave penaud or couard.
without tail nor head: seem not to have a beginning nor of end, disorganized.
to bite the tail: to turn in round.
to draw the devil by the tail: to have evil to find what to live.

Venom

to spit its venom: to say spites.
in the tail, venom: translation of Latin " in cauda venenum" , a spite coming at the end from a text or a speech. Currency of the 1st regiment of hunters parachutists 4th company

With

weak Bleak

nobody who easily lets himself control or deceive
to be thick like a bleak

to have the bees: To be very in anger

Lamb

like a lamb: without any spite. To be flexible.

eagle

to have a glance of eagle
eye of eagle: piercing sight. (see lynx)
it is an eagle: it is an eminent, higher person in all points.

lark

to wait until the larks all fall roast into the nozzle: to wait until the things arrive of themselves, without effort.
a mirror with the larks: a trap, a lure.

stupid ass: nobody stupid.
ass of Buridan: ass which, according to the legend, died of hunger and thirst between its ration of oats for oats and its water bucket, fault of choosing by what to begin…
red ass: nobody very been obstinated.
dunce's cap: paper bonnet with long ears which one put on the head of the poor pupils.
kick of the ass: attacks coward and unfair.
back of ass: speed reducer, or convex deformation of the roadway.
to try to make drink an ass which is not thirsty
to make the ass to have sound: to play the imbeciles by expecting some a benefit.
assembled like an ass: man having a sex of big size.
not-with ass: or Tussilage, tussilago will farfara , medicinal plant of the family of the Composées.
not-with ass: device used in dentistry veterinary surgeon to maintain open the mouth of an animal.
change the subject: to pass from a subject to another without any connection with the first.
skin of ass: diploma
to weigh a dead ass: to weigh very heavy.
piss of ass: insipid drink.
pepper of ass ( pebre of have in Provençal): Savory
obstinate like an ass: very obstinate
to kill an ass with fig blow: to do something which takes too much time.

Anguille

there is eel under rock: something is hidden. There is a trap some share.

Spider

spider of the morning: sorrow; spider of midday: concern; spider of the evening: hope: all is relative.
to have a spider with the ceiling: to have the disturbed spirit.
a steak in the spider: the spider, more running of the pieces of the butcher, is the external obturating muscle, very flat with the pace of a cobweb: it forms very juicy steaks.

Maggot

box with maggots (popular): coffin.
to polish the maggot (very vulgar): to masturbate.
funny of maggot: funny of catch.

swallow (out-of-date form of Swallow)

Dovetail: assembly of two pieces of wood, cutting being in the shape of tail of swallow.

Ostrich

to have a stomach of ostrich
to make the ostrich: to refuse to take into account a reality.
ostrich policy: cf supra.

B

Whale

whale (popular): nobody obese.
marrer like a whale (familiar): to laugh at good heart. " Your Serenity, instead of you marrer like a whale, can you tell me… " Francis Blanche, Sar Rabindranath Duval.

Donkey

to shout haro on the donkey: reference to the Fountain, in sick animals of the plague , to indicate innocent inoffensive with popular vindication. ( to see scapegoat )

Woodcock sandpiper, snipe

woman, stupid girl; nobody stupid.

water hammer: shock, violent effort exerted against an obstacle.

hind

my hind: affectionate term for a woman.
bicher: jubiler (familiar)
Eye of hind: small make-up of the top of the eye.
foot of hind: tool whose end is fouchue, for example to tear off nails. /forme foot of certain pieces of furniture of Style Louis XV.

Badger

to be antipathetic, coarse and little refined.

additional female length and hairy boa

or in feather S, to put around the neck.

Ox-carrots (slang): General inspection of the national police force (French police force).
Bull's eye: round attic window.
to make a tremendous effect: to be impressive.
to make an ox: improvisation with several musicians in jazz. “To make an ox with poor musicians, it is in your honor”, Georges Brassens, Élégie with a rat of cellar .
extremely like an ox: nobody massive having a rough force.
to put the plow in front of oxen: to make the things in a bad direction.
to put an ox on its language: to keep silent
which flies an egg steals an ox: whatever the larceny a robber remains a robber.
to blow like an ox: to blow bruyamment after an effort.
howling wind: very violent wind.
to perspire like an ox: to sweat abundantly.

goat

Scapegoat: reference to the Lévitique, nobody supporting wrongly all the responsibility for a fact.
the large goat: the Devil.
to feel the goat: to spread a nauseous Odor.
old goat: dépravé. (see pig)

she-ass

to drive crazy somebody: to exceed somebody by his behavior. (see goat)
to be obstinate (E) like a she-ass " true a bourrique" : to be obstinate (E) to the extreme.

tube

a tube: one (E) idiotic (E).
blockhead! : (familiar) species of idiot (E)!

C

Cockroach

to be feeling gloomy: Not to have the moral , to depress.
to make the cockroach, cafarder (pejorative): to denounce.

Ruail

small ruail (slang): pretty young woman.
hot as a ruail: sexually excited

Duck, duck

handle lever: handle of door whose form points out a nozzle, which makes it possible to drive the bolt of a lock without the assistance of a key.
that does not break three legs with a duck: is said something of means or passable.
to make a duck: to soak a piece of sugar in the coffee or an alcoholic drink.
to make a duck: in music, to play a wrong note. In love, to embrace on the mouth
to make a duck: in jargon of surfer/bodyboardor, to plunge with his board to pass under a wave
to make duck: to keep silent itself.
to make duck: to allure while being obliging, obséquieux. (Zeu)
it is bitterly cold: the weather is very cold.
to read a duck: to see the newspaper.
to go out of duck: to go with the outwards turned points of foot.
not of pity for lame ducks: it is useless to let survive of the condemned beings.
to be the Ugly Duckling: in reference to Hans Christian Andersen, to dissociate itself negatively.

carp

to be dumb like a carp: completely Dumb
to make a carp jump: being lying on the belly, to be turned over without the assistance of the hands.
marriage of carp and rabbit: says incompatible things.

beaver

to work like a beaver: to work enormously.
to work like the beavers: word game of Jacques Dutronc (playboys) on the preceding expression, to work without the feet nor the hands, to be a gigolo.

Jackal

to have a breath of jackal: to have a very bad breath.
fine jackal: man crafty one. (see fox )

Camel

camel: nobody acariâtre. (see cow )
sober like a camel: of a great sobriety.

Cat (pussy, pussy, iron ore)

pussy: young man a little manner.
iron ore: a little maniérée young woman.
pussy, iron ore (slang): female genitals.
chatteries: manners galentes.
as of early dawn: of potron , deformation of posterio (in the beginning " as of potron-jacquet") ; at dawn.
two knaves well met: says itself of two also pugnacious enemies.
with mau cat, mau rat: former French mau , bad, like supra .
to buy cat out of pocket (or a cat in a bag): to buy without seeing the object of the sale. Chat out of pocket is also the title of a part of Georges Feydeau.
to call a spade a spade: to say the things such as they are, without periphrasis.
to have other fish to fry: To have things more important to make than those which are proposed to us.
to have cats eyes: to see well in the darkness.
to have a frog in his/her throat: to be enroué.
once bitten, twice shy: after an unhappy experiment, one manages from there to fear inoffensive things.
to give its language to the cat: initially to remain without voice, by extension, to acknowledge its ignorance. To stop thinking of a problem and asking the solution.
to be like dog and cat: to have tended, difficult relations.
it does not have there what to whip a cat
it does not have a cat there: there is nobody.
it does not have there the tail of a cat: there is nobody.
to play cat (out-of-date): play of continuation in the playground.
to play perched cat: alternative of the precedent where a player in height is invulnerable.
to play the cat and mouse: to make last an unpleasant situation cruelly.
the dogs do not make cats: the characteristics of his parents are always kept.
disease of the claws of the cat: lymphoréticulomatose benign of inoculation.
disease of the cry of the cat: together of malformations due to the Délétion of an arm of the Chromosome 5.
wee of cat: thing of little consequence or drink, in particular beer, of bad taste.
when the cat is not there the mice dance: the superior absent, the subordinates benefit from it not to work more.
a toilet of cat: summary toilet, without almost using water.

Horse

with horse over two periods: time including the one period end and the beginning of the other. Can also apply to the places.
to have a raging fever: high fever. (see drastic remedy)
to have a force of horse: great force.
that is not under the step (the shoe) of a horse: thing which one should not await from a chance.
pommel horse: gymnastic tackle of .
war-horse: subject which one has a perfect command of and which one readily develops.
riding breeches: pants of horsemanship; cellulitis on the level of the external part of the thigh.
to be with horse: to be sitted with - califourchon.
to be (very) with horse on something: to be strict about something, in general a principle. " The taca taca TAC TAC tiqu', - Of the gendarme - is to be constantly - With ch' valley on the règlement" Andre Bourvil and Lionel the Dish, tactics of the Gendarme (1949)
to ride the high horse: in a conversation, to react highly, in an excessive way. To put itself in anger quickly and exaggeratedly.
drastic remedy: powerful drug. (see raging fever)

Goat

to make become goat: to be exceeded (by the behavior of somebody.) (see she-ass)
to spare the goat and the cabbage: to try to reconcile two opposing parties. To act in order not to oppose two antagonistic parts.

Dog, bitch

to arrive like a dog in ninepins: to appear in an importunate way.
to have dog: to have a behavior, a remarkable attitude.
to have an air of beaten dog: to have the very unhappy air, to inspire pity.
it is not made for the dogs: this thing is made for the common and general use. example the gutters are not made for the dogs! If, precisely.
sitted dog: in architecture, attic window practiced in a roof by rectifying some the slope.
dog of police chief: that which was charged to assist one condemned to dead in its last moments.
dog of rifle: part holding the stone with fire in the old weapons.
bitch in Jacques: appropriate dress which leaves something to be desired.
Watchdogs: a French feminist lobby.
lustful bitch (generally by humorous hyperbole): nymphomaniac.
bitch of life: sad life, without happiness.
between dog and wolf: with fallen the night.
to be like dog and cat: to have tended, difficult relations.
to be treated like a dog: with contempt, without consideration.
the dogs do not make cats: the characteristics of his parents are always kept.
not to attach its dog with sausages: to be sick skinflint
like a dog: very sick. (see raging fever)
not to be dog: to be generous. (Rather used in this negative turning, being dog in the direction d'" to be radin" is not very used)
to hold a dog of its bitch: to await its revenge.
heading of the crushed dogs (journalism): heading of the various facts.
to lie down in dog of rifle: slept on dimensioned, knees folded up on the belly.
to look itself in earthenware dogs: to remain face to face without knowknowing what to say itself.
a filthy weather: bad weather (see pig)
a life of dog: sad life, without happiness.

Pig/Pig

character of pig: bad character.
cinema pig (out-of-date): pornographic cinema.
pig of paying: dissatisfied taxpayer.
pig which retracts some: ritual words sealing an oral contract between peasants.
buddies like pigs (familiar): good friends, inseparable.
to give jam to pigs: to waste its benefits towards those which will not appreciate them with their value.
newspaper pig (out-of-date): pornographic newspaper.
the pig is in corn: Rugby, the match is practically played.
not to know if it is bacon or pig: not to know if a thing is serious or not.
to eat like a pig: to eat dirtily, without following any rule of use.
tail of pig: various instruments whose end is spiral.
empifrer like a pig: To eat more than of reason
drunk like a pig: drunk-death (see thrush)
a time of pig: bad weather. (see dog))

a head of pig: somebody says itself who is sulky.

old pig: nobody dépravée. (see goat)

Cock

to have cockscombs: to have venereal Condylome S. “Hippocrates says yes - They is cockscombs - And Gallien answers - Not, they are gonococci” , Georges Brassens, the medical bulletin.
to have wiry legs: to have thin legs.
with the song of the cock: from very good morning, with first light of dawn.
to be like a cock in paste: to profit from all the care, all possible comfort.
to be to trust like a cock: to be very proud.
change the subject, or, To jump of the cock to the ass: to pass from a subject to another without any report/ratio. To change subject for conversation in an unexpected way and to start to speak about things having nothing to do with that about which one spoke.
foot of cock: fabric with reasons black and white, larger than foot of hen .

corbel

wing of corbel: of a bluish black.
ripping iron: grip to cut the wire. (see nozzle)
corbel: dispatching man of the messages and/or the anonymous telephone calls sometimes threatening.

crow

Bayer with the crows: not to be attentive.

cuckoo

to brood an egg of cuckoo: to take care of somebody who will cause wrong.
dry, thin like a cuckoo: very thin.

grass snake

lazy like a grass snake: very lazy
to make swallow grass snakes: to make accept without stumbling of the contrary decisions to its own opinion, undergoing vexations. “ One makes me swallow grass snakes all the day, repeated the baron ” Stendhal, Lucien Leuwen.

Crab

eaten, puffed out by crab: deceased of cancer.
to go out of crab: to move side.
basket of crabs (pejorative): together of people to the complicated relations.
old crab (familiar): nobody of experiment (see old fox)

Crapaud

dribbles of clamping plate: scandalmongerings. " Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me " (proverb)
squat armchair: armchair of style Napoleon III, entirely upholstered and with the dissimulated feet.
sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me: scandalmongering is said pleasantly.

Shrimp

a shrimp: a very thin person, more especially a woman fluette. By extension, indicated in the slang a light woman.
the Kid Shrimp: name, remained celebrates, of the female character of the Lady from Maxim , of Feydeau.

Crocodile

to pour crocodile tears: to cry without really being sad; to show a hypocritical sorrow.

swan

song of the swan: last service, last exploit before disappearing.
swan neck: bent tap.

D

Turkey

small turkey (pejorative): a little naive young girl (see " goose blanche") .
Nest of turkey: Very large hole in the roadway, larger than a nest of hen. (Ironic Sentence used with Montreal in spring, because of the big number of hole and their very important sizes)

Turkey

to be the turkey of the joke: to be made turn into ridiculous.

E

crayfish

to be red like a crayfish: to have taken sunstrokes

elephant

like a bull in a china shop: in an awkward way.
political elephant: personality impossible to circumvent and practically irremovable in a political party. " The elephants of the PS prepare the response. " Le Figaro, April 25th, 2006
to never forget an injury: to have a very good memory.

sponge

to pass sponge: to forgive

Snail

to advance like a snail, to be a snail: to advance very slowly.
" To dope itself with the gasoline of escargot"

F

Pheasant

pheasant (slang); swindler who buys with credit goods that it sells with the cash.
to make pheasant: with the casino, to play only intermittently.

Falcon

to have an eye of falcon: to have a piercing sight (see lynx)
left the falcons: in policy, party preaching a policy warmonger.

to have ants in legs: to feel Paraesthesia S
an ant: a hard-working person
a work of ant: a long work and meticulous person

G

gardon

to be fresh like a gardon: to be very in form. " As of the shortly after its operation, it was fresh like a gardon."

Gazelle

to run like a gazelle: to run very quickly.

Geai

geai avoided feathers of the peacock: in reference to the Fountain, nobody wanting to appear more than what it is not.

Giraffe

To be a true giraffe: To be very large
to comb the giraffe: to have an uninteresting occupation.

Frog

To swallow the frog: To adapt an account joint
to have frog thighs: to have thin legs.
frog of stoup: nobody excessively excessively pious woman. (see " punaise")
the frog which wants to appear as large as ox: in reference to the Fountain, nobody very ambitious.

Thrush

for lack of thrushes, one eats blackbirds: when one cannot have better, it is necessary to be satisfied with what one drunk A.
like a thrush: reference to the dubious flight of the gavées grape thrushes, completely drunk being.

crane

crane (vulgar): prostitute.
to make the foot of crane: to wait upright. (see " to pose a lapin")

Wasp

a size of wasp: a small size.
not insane the wasp: says itself of a person crafty one with whom “one does not do it”.

H

Hanneton

it is not piqué of the cockchafers: it is not a banal thing, that has an undeniable value. (see worm) In the beginning piqué of the cockchafers applied to salad sheets eaten by the cockchafers or other small beasts and thus without commercial value. rinses the partition - In Kroutchev house - Bordeaux not piqué of the cockchafers , Pierre Perret, twists It bowels.

Herring

herring or mackerel it is kif (slang): the term herring qualifies also a procurer.

Swallow (See also swallow )

swallow (vielli): policeman to bicycle (see cow with casters) , named thus because of their bicycle of mark Swallow .
one swallow doesn't make spring: one should not draw from conclusion since only one element.

Oyster

To be stuffed like an oyster: To be complètemlent drunk.
to yawn like an oyster: to keep the open mouth after having yawned.
to close itself like an oyster: to refuse the discussion.

Hyena

to laugh like an hyena: to laugh in a malicious way.

K

Kangaroo

pocket kangaroo: ventral pocket.
slipway kangaroo: slipway with open pocket
unit kangaroo: service of Néonatalogie allowing the hospitalization in the same room of the mother and of her child.

L

rabbit

that is not worth a rabbit fart: that is not worth large thing.
hot rabbit: man multiplying the sex acts.
whiplash injury: mortal blow in the neck.
marriage of carp and rabbit: union of incompatible things.
to pose a rabbit: not to come to an appointment.
rabbit three day old: nobody inexperienced.
to live in a rabbit cage: to live a very small apartment; to live an apartment in a large bar, style HLM

Larva

larva: nobody without energy

Lizard

lézarder: to take a sun bath.
to cherish the lizard (vulgar): to masturbate.
it does not have there a lizard (slang): there are no problems, not risk. There is no trap or of swindles hidden.

Hare

Harelip: congenital anomaly of the lips and the palate.
to run like a hare: to run very quickly.
to run two hares at the same time: to pursue several different goals.
to raise a hare: to discover an unexpected problem.
to be timorous like a hare: to pack up with the least danger.

Slug

to advance like a slug, to be a slug: to advance very slowly.
a slug: indicate a shirt “ My wax-godasses - My pass by again-slugs - My stool with ice ” Boris Vian, the lament of progress.

Lion

to have eaten lion: to show energy.
dandelion: Vernacular name of the Dandelion, in particular of the common dandelion ( Taraxacum officinalis )
to reserve the lions share: to reserve the greatest part.
to be a lion: to be very courageous.

linnet

to have a head of linnet: to have little memory.

dormouse

to sleep like a dormouse: to deeply sleep (see " marmotte").

wolf

to have a hunger of wolf: to have a great hunger.
to have seen the wolf: not to be more virgin, for a girl.
with the tail leu-leu: of leu , former French for " loup" : while following itself of only one file. (see tail )
known like the white wolf: to be known of everyone.
to shout with the wolf: to alert for nothing.
young wolf with the long teeth: ambitious.
mouth of wolf or Muflier: plant of the family of scrophulacées.
to howl with the wolves (pejorative): to condemn somebody, following in that the opinion of the majority.
there is a wolf: there is a hidden problem.
to introduce the wolf into the sheep-fold: introduction of a strongly disturbing element some share.
wolves do not eat each other: the beings malfaisants are in general not made a wrong between them.
man is a wolf to man: of Homo homini lupus (Plaute), the man is his own predator.
wolf of war: mercenary.
old seaman: experienced sailor.
to go to step of wolf: while going silently.
leg of wolf, scratches wolf, or lycopod: left fern, family of the Lycopodiacées.
foot of wolf or lycope: plant moist environments, family of the Lamiacées.
talk of the Devil, one sees the tail of it: says itself of a person arriving when one speaks about it.
jump of wolf: broad ditch intended to prohibit the access of a property, without masking the sight.
sun of the wolves: poetically, the the Moon.
to put your/his/her head in the lion: to put itself spontaneously in a dangerous situation.
head of wolf: left brush to remove the cobwebs.
Vesse of wolf, fart of wolf or lycoperdon: kinds of mushrooms Basidiomycete S.

lynx

eye of lynx: piercing sight. (see eagle )

M

Mammoth

mammoth: structure (in particular administrative) heavy and bureaucratic.
to degrease the mammoth: to reduce administrative manpower of French state education Claude Allègre dixit.

Penguin

not to be penguin: to be skilful.

Marmot

to sleep like a marmot: to sleep deeply. (see dormouse)
and the marmot, it puts the chocolate in the aluminum paper: advertizing reference recent, is said while speaking about an incredible history.

Mackerel

to make mackerel: to be the upholder of one or more prostitutes. (see herring)

Whiting

to go in whiting: to go in the hairdresser.
eyes of fried whiting: glance at the same time denied and happy.

blackbird

for lack of thrushes, one eats blackbirds: when one cannot have more, one must be satisfied with what one A.
white blackbird: thing or nobody untraceable. (see rare bird)
sings, beautiful blackbird, sings: you can always speak, I will not listen to you.

cod: loose woman.

feeding trough with flies: open Wound, estafilade
Boat fly: Parisian tourist boat.
thigh of fly: according to Pierre Perret, girl skinny person.
to write in spidery scrawl: fine, tight and not easily readable writing.
to fuck up the ass the flies (vulgar): to lose itself in useless details; one says also more elegantly to sodomize the Diptère S or to devote itself to manners against-nature with the dipterous ones.

to intend to steal a fly: It there with step of noise, one could hear a fly fly.

to be a fine-fly: nobody skilful.

to make fly: with the shooting, to reach the center of the target. By ext. with illustrated, during a discussion, to pronounce a counterpart which clearly achieves its goal (convincing argument, matter voluntarily wounding, or on the contrary encouraging, etc).

gobe-fly: simpleton.

gober flies: nothing to make to

the flies changed ass: one passed to other thing.

fly of the stage coach: in reference to the Fountain, nobody persuaded of his importance, imposing and obstructing the effort of others.

honey catches more flies than vinegar

weight-fly: a category boxes

of it to take the fly: offusquer, for an often futile pretext.

which fly has it piqué (E)? : il/elle became (E) insane (it).

to look at stealing the flies: not to be attentive.

not to make of evil to a fly: to be without any spite, inoffensive.

Mould

to have mussel: To have many chance.

Sheep

to count the sheep: exercise helping to fall asleep

to play Leapfrog: to play to jump the ones over the others

world's wonder: thing or improbable being

Sheep of Panurge: in reference to Rabelais, nobody following a general movement without reflecting.

let us return to our sheep: in reference to the Joke of Master Pathelin , to return on the initial subject.

mule, mule

to be obstinate like a mule: to be very obstinate. To be stubborn. Not to be not easy to convince.

to charge the mule: To alcoholize itself more than of reason

head of mule: nobody entêtée.

See-of-mule: part fixed at the Mast of a sailing ship, allowing the articulation with the Bôme.

NR

nourrain

to give (of the money) in the nourrain: expression put at the honor by Jacques Capelovici, with the clean direction, to supply a moneybox in the shape of pig, with the illustrated direction, to start again a discussion or an argument.

O

Goose

Play of the goose: board game.
white goose (pejorative): ingenuous and a little stupid young girl.
not of goose: way of ravelling named German army Paradenmarsch .
leg of goose: trifurcation of roads.
leg of goose (muscles of): together of three muscles biarticulaires of the thigh: gracile, sartorius and semi-tendineux.
leg of goose (wrinkles of): wrinkles of the corner of the eyelids.

Bird

to have an appetite of bird: to eat very little.
to have a brain of bird: to have little memory or little gumption.
as the crow flies: in straight line.
the small bird will leave: what the photographer says to attract the glance on his objective.
bird of ill omen: in reference to ill omen to see passing a bird on its left, nobody bringing or envisaging bad news.
bird of ill omen: as supra.
rare bird: " opinion in terris" will rara; of Juvénal, nobody exceptional.
wee of bird: small heavy shower.

Bear

character of bear: bougon, not very pleasant.
like a bear out of cage: to test an impotent anger.
not to count his/her chickens before they are hatched. : Not to make sure of something which is not confirmed yet.
uncouth fellow: nobody not very pleasant.
to sell the skin of the bear: reference to the Fountain, to anticipate a dubious success.

sea urchin

to have sea urchins in the pockets (familiar): to be miserly.

P

Peacock

to trust like a peacock: conceited.
geai avoided feathers of the peacock: in reference to the Fountain, character wanting to appear more than what it is not.

butterfly

Effect butterfly: stipulate that each action, even most alleviating, can have colossal consequences in the long run.
butterfly minute: indicate to a person in a hurry that it must take her time
stroke butterfly: ventral style of stroke, where the arms and the legs act symmetrically.
Bow tie: way of tying a tie.
to be caught a butterfly (familiar): to be charged for prohibited parking.

Perdreau

it is not a young partridge of the year: it is not initial.
it is not a young partridge of the year (ironic Litote): nobody more any young person.
young partridge: in reference to the red Basque of their old uniform, a gendarme indicates.

Partridge

an eye of partridge: corn.

Parrot

nozzle of parrot: Osteophyte S vertebral. (see " bec")
Owner! a parrot! : with the bar, pastis and of mint beverage mixes.
parrot: left door coats
to recite like a parrot: to repeat by heart, without including/understanding inevitably well.

Seal

to have a breath of seal: to have very bad breath
fag like a seal: homosexual exclusive. The genesis, dubious, could come from the Foc (veil of before taking the mast by behind), or from English " fuck".
to blow like a seal: to be very blown, to breathe with noise.

black and white

talkative like a magpie: very talkative.
to be robber like a magpie: to be very attracted by the brilliant objects.
crow's nest: on a boat, another name of the watchtower.
tail coat: frac.

Pigeon

to be a pigeon: to be made have
pigeonner: to deceive

Penguin

in costume of penguin: equipped out of smoking.

Finch

to be merry like a finch: to be very content (E).

Piranha

piranha effect: fast enrichment of an article of Wikipédia, by the sudden surge of many contributors. (thank you with them)

Poisson

to be frétillant like a fish: to move
enormously to be happy like a fish in water: To be very at ease in a typical location.
to make a cut in front: after a going beyond, to fold back itself abruptly.
to finish in cut in front: in reference to the poetic Art of Horace " Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne" , to finish brutally, by leaving the reader or the listener on his hunger. (see also tail , siren )
to drown fish in water: to complicate with the envi a discussion by quibbles.
tall oaks from little acorns grow: any living being which is small ends up growing.
fish of April: made joke on April 1st.
engueuler like rotted fish: to thunder, dispute with violence.

Porcupine

to have the head like a porcupine: to have the hair in battle.

Louse

to seek lice in the head of somebody: he to seek quarrel.
to be ugly, ugly like a louse: to be very ugly (see " thon").
to be to trust like a louse (ironic and familiar): to ennorgueillir itself of a modest performance.

hen, Chicken

to have the goose flesh: with clean, horripilation, with illustrated, to be afraid.
stops in hen bottom: mimicry characterized by a district of the lips, sometimes to show scorn.
as a hen which found a knife: perplexed, as in front of an object of which one is unaware of the use.
bottom of hen: hemispherical container used in kitchen.
to send a chicken (familiar): to send a ticket runs.
and my bottom, it is chicken? : to express a doubt as for the credibility of the proposal of others.
mother hen, father hen: excessively protective parents.
my chicken, my pullet, my chick: affectionate terms designating a small child.
pothole: hole in the roadway.
foot of hen: fabric with black and white reasons. (see also foot of cock )
hen of luxury (pejorative): courtesan, mistress.
wet hen: apprehensive individual.
chicken (slang): police officer.
pigs might fly: event which is not close being carried out. Never.
rolls my hen (familiar): go ahead without hesitating.
to rise or lie down with hens. : To rise early and to lie down early.
to kill goose that lays the golden eggs: in reference to the Fountain, to waste a fortune to come for an immediate profit.
a hen cage: apartment of small size, in a great real unit.

chip

in holy Luce the days advance of a step of chip: starting from December 13rd, it is dawning longer.
to have the chip with the ear: To be vigilant, with listening, to be prevented
excited like a chip: very excited.
flea market: vacuum-attic, secondhand trade.
to put the chip at the ear: to draw the attention to a precise detail.
a jump of chip: progression by succession of small progress.

oh bug! : interjection expressing amazement.
church hen (pejorative): nobody excessively excessively pious woman. (see frog of stoup) . “I fell on a bushel - church hens - taking to Me for another - In chorus they said to me. ” Georges Brassens, the non-believer .

Fitchet

to feel like a fitchet: to feel very bad.

Q

R

Raptor

a raptor: an avid person of profit.

to have a face of rat: facies chafouin.
to have a rat died in the place of the heart: to be cruel.
to sleep like a dead rat: to sleep very deeply.
to be a rat: to be miserly.
to be made like a rat: not to have any chance to leave itself an annoying situation.
like a rat of church: used by Verlaine, very poor.
the rats leave the ship (pejorative): marine reference, rats seeming to leave a building promised with the shipwreck; to give up without glory a desperate cause.
small rat of the opera: young dancer () of the Opera of Paris.
tail of rat: round file.
rat of cellar: small lamp with wick or candle.
Rat of cellar: employees of the customs.
hotel thief: burglar specialized in the hotel rooms.
bookworm: nobody impassioned of books.
Attack on immigrants: racist violences towards north African
to be bored like a dead rat: to be bored firm.

to skin the fox: to vomit.
to be crafty one (E) like one (E) fox (E): to be very malignant (gne)
to sew the skin of the fox to that of the lion: to add the trick to the force.
fine (E) fox (E): nobody crafty one.
renarder: to feel as extremely as a fox.
to draw with the fox: says itself of a horse which seeks to tear off its longe of fastener.
a good fox does not eat hens of its neighbor: that which makes an action blâmable makes it rather in a distant place that in that where it is known.
old (it) fox (E): nobody crafty one (E) and tested (E).

Requin

it is a shark: it is an avid person of profit, hard in business.
Shark of studio: musician mercenary, often virtuoso, paid to play on the disc of the others.

S

Leech

to be a leech: to be an pot-of-adhesive; to live at the expense of others.

Starling

rupee of starling: of rupee to the old direction of snot, thing of little consequence. (see wee of cat, fart of rabbit)

Sardine

to obtain its first sardine: its first gallon of warrant officer
to be tight like sardines: with narrow, tight the ones against the others without being able to move.

Canary

to have canes of canary: to have thin legs. (see wiry leg, thigh of fly)

large canary: goof.

Snake

to heat a snake in its center: to take care of a person who finally will betray.

alarming specter: journalistic topic returning periodically, generally when the topicality is little of interest.

snake which bites the tail: problem not having a solution, bringing back unceasingly to the starting point. (see tail )

Monkey

déméler tails of monkeys: to regulate complex affairs taking of time.

to make the monkey: to make the malignant imbecile

like a monkey: very malignant.

to pay in currency of monkey: to pay with a thing of low value, not to even pay a whole.

it is not with an old monkey that one learns how to make the grimace: says itself of a person knowing to bottom the traps of its subject.

singer somebody: to imitate somebody (says itself especially with regard to the gestures and mimicry).

Mouse

to hide in a hole of mouse: to have shame, seek to be made forget.

the race trotte-menu: in reference with the Fountain, expression indicating the small rodents (rats, mouse, etc…).

to pass by a hole of mouse: to be very small and/or very nimble.

when the cat are not there, the mice dance: when the superior is absent, the subordinates benefit from their freedom.

mouse (familiar): young girl.

T

Taupe

the network is infiltrated by a mole: a double agent is with work.
to be short-sighted like a mole: badly to see.

Bull

to take the bull by the horns: to make a given and courageous decision.

tinea

to be malicious or bad like a tinea: of a great spite.

Termite

work of termite: work of destruction slow and occult.

Tuna

a tuna: a woman of very ugly (see louse).

tiger

to be jealous like a tiger: to be of a wild jealousy.
to put a tiger in its engine: advertizing reference of Esso.
tiger out of paper: in reference to Mao Zedong, weak adversary in spite of a frightening appearance. “When we say that the American imperialism is a paper tiger, we speak about it on strategic planning” Mao Zedong 1956 .

tortoise

with step of tortoise: reference to Jean of the Fountain, to surely advance very slowly, but.

V

to have eaten mad cow: to have lived under difficult conditions. To be irritated.
dirty trick: attacks unfair.
to be cow: to be without pity. (see camel)
the cow! : that then!
died with the cows (slang): to wish the disappearance of the members of the police force. Comes from the nickname " vaches" data with the gendarmes because of their cowhide belt.
to speak French like a Spanish cow (in the beginning, " to speak French like a Basque the espagnol") : badly to speak French.
skin of cow: nobody malicious, generally with respect to his subordinates.
dry land: dry land.
to cry like a cow: of Rabelais, to cry bruyamment (see calf)
to be raining cats and dogs (familiar): to rain very extremely.
tail of cow: of russet-red diluted.
On the dry land. : Get busy to indicate the dry land in opposition to the fact of sailing on water or of flying in the airs.
water bag: container of fabric, used in camp-site.
cash cow: nobody exploited.
cow with casters (slang, out-of-date): policeman to bicycle (see swallow)

Vulture

to be a vulture: to be hard.

Calf

to adore the Golden calf: to have the worship of the money.
this car is a calf: it misses power.
the French are calves: quotation of Charles de Gaulle, attested by her Philippe son.
to cry/brailler like a calf: to cry bruyamment.
to kill fatted calf: biblical reference, to make a feast in the honor of a return.

it is not piqué of the worms: of great quality. (see cockchafer) . To be intact, even very good.
to be naked like a worm: to be nu/déshabillé, with the clean direction as with illustrated.
to draw the worms from the nose with somebody: to make say with difficulty something to somebody, tap confidences skilfully to him.
the worm is in the fruit: a group includes/understands a badly disposed person.

Viper

venomous tongue: nobody scandalmonger.
vipers' nest: together of people malfaisantes.
lustful viper: favorite insult of Stalin.

Z

funny Zebra

of zebra: doubtful individual.
to slip by like a zebra: to run very quickly.

See too

Cries of the biblical animals
Expressions
current Expressions of the marine language
Marseilles Expressions
Czech animalist Idioms
botanical Idiom
toponymic Idiom
Interpretation of expressions in Québécois language of the signs
List of words and expressions of Toulouse

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