French Idioms and Proverbs. de V. Payen-Payne

and everything connected with it); The whole boiling; The whole bag of tricks.

      [Also: tout le tremblement, and, le diable et son train.]

      Braise

      *Tomber de la poêle dans la braise = To fall out of the frying-pan into the fire.

      Passer sur une chose comme un chat sur la braise = To pass lightly over a subject.

      Branche

      Être comme l’oiseau sur la branche = To be very unsettled.

      [This generally refers to a man’s position in life, whether he will stay where he is or be made to leave.]

      Branler

      *Tout ce qui branle ne tombe pas = A creaking gate hangs long.

      Bras

      Bras dessus bras dessous = Arm in arm.

      J’ai les bras rompus = My arms are tired.

      Cette perte nous coupe bras et jambes = This loss cripples us entirely.

      Les bras me tombent de surprise (or, m’en tombent) = I am struck dumb with surprise.

      Il a le bras long = He has great influence.

      

      Si vous lui en donnez long comme le doigt, il en prendra long comme le bras = Give him an inch, he will take an ell.

      [“Laissez leur prendre un pied chez vous Ils en auront bientôt pris quatre.” La Fontaine, Fables, ii. 7.

      German: Wer sich auf den Achseln sitzen lässt, dem sitzt man nachher auf dem Kopfe = Who lets one sit on his shoulders shall have him presently sit on his head.

      Italian: Si ti lasci metter in spalla il vitello, quindi a poco ti metter an la vacca = If thou suffer a calf to be laid on thee, within a little they’ll clap on the cow.]

      Je l’ai saisi à bras le corps = I seized him round the waist (in a struggle).

      Je l’ai battu à tour de bras (or, à bras raccourci) = I beat him with all my might.

      Pourquoi restez-vous là les bras croisés? = Why are you waiting there doing nothing?

      J’ai ses enfants sur les bras = I have his children on my hands.

      Brebis

      *A brebis tondue Dieu mesure le vent = God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.

      [Also: Dieu donne le froid selon le drap. This is said to occur first in a collection of proverbs made by Henri Estienne (Stephanus), 1594. The earliest mention in English is, I believe, in Sterne’s Sentimental Journey.]

      *Qui se fait brebis, le loup le mange = He who is too confiding is imposed upon; Daub yourself with honey and you’ll be covered with flies.

      *Brebis comptées le loup les mange = Counting one’s chickens will not keep the fox off; If you count your chickens, harm will happen to them.

      [Compare Vergil, Ecl., vii. 52. This somewhat difficult expression can also be translated: “A bold thief is not frightened at things being counted.” It no doubt refers to the old superstition that counting one’s possessions was followed by misfortune, as in 2 Samuel xxiv.]

      *Brebis qui bêle perd sa goulée = It is the silent sow that sucks the wash.

      

      La brebis galeuse = The black sheep.

      Il ne faut qu’une brebis galeuse pour infecter tout le troupeau = One scabby sheep will taint the whole flock; One ill weed mars a whole pot of pottage.

      [Also: Pomme pourrie gâte sa compagnie = One rotten apple spoils the whole basket.]