lire attentivement, examiner, consulter « We perused the company's financial statements for the past five years. »« She found the information while she was perusing a copy of Life magazine. »
malheur, infortune The woes of economic reform: poverty and income inequality. a tale of woe = une histoire triste « a tale of woe with a happy ending » a cry of woe un = cri de détresse hélas woe is me! = pauvre de moi!
couture your coat is falling apart at the seams = votre manteau se découd. my suitcase is bursting at the seams = ma valise est pleine à craquer joint, soudure fig.: their marriage falling apart at the seams = leur mariage craque
bouclier, écran protecteur he used his left hand as a shield against the reflecting sunlight = il se servit de sa main gauche pour protéger ses yeux de la lumière du soleil. trophée our school won the sports shield last year. to shield = protéger a parasol to shield her from the sun.
[concept, idea, word] désuet in 2015 information will only come in video, and text and images will become some quaint, outdated media, like engravings are now. quaint old 50s phrases. the Seventies disco craze now seems impossibly quaint and dated. pittoresque quaint little shops and arcade restaurants.
bassin « we've got a pond in our garden. » étang « ponds attract migrating birds. » a duck pond = une mare aux canards lily pond = mare aux nénuphars the pond = l'Atlantique
[behaviour] farfelu [sexually] vicieux, pervers he likes kinky sex = il a des goûts sexuels un peu spéciaux olé olé kinky rubber underwear = des dessous olé olé en latex [rope, cable] entortillé, emmêlé [hair] crépu, frisé
se blottir we huddle out of the cold in a small, warm room to huddle around a fire = se blottir autour d'un feu to huddle together = se blottir les uns contre les autres a huddle = un petit groupe they collapsed in a huddle.