exorbitant he will do it for a whopping fee. spectaculaire whopping pay increases. [lie, mistake] énorme sometimes a whopping mistake in your writing is completely invisible to you until you print it out
boucler, attacher « he hadn't buckled his safety belt » voiler « the car clipped my bicycle wheel and badly buckled it the door was beginning to buckle from the intense heat. » céder « the parents would have buckled under that sort of pressure » [leg, knee] céder « his knees buckled and he fell backwards »
chanceler , tituber I staggered to the nearest chair.
stupéfier an event that staggered the world.
[holidays] étaler, échelonner The summer holidays are staggered.
se balader (=to go gallivanting) I can't go gallivanting like a youngster A girl's place is in the home, not gallivanting around and filling her head with nonsense.
pousser He dragged her out to the door and shoved her into the street She shoved as hard as she could. to shove sb out of the way = écarter qn en le poussant fourrer We'll shove an extra paragraph in here. Shove your hands in your pockets to give sb/sth a shove = pousser qn/qch The car won't start. Can you give it a shove?
se déchaîner Hundreds of fans went on the rampage after the match. se livrer à des saccages gangs of youths rampaged on the fringes of the demonstration They went rampaging through the town.
to whizz along = filer à toute vitesse to whizz past = passer à toute vitesse Ten minutes later, the rest of the cyclists whizzed past. whizz kid = petit prodige a financial whizz kid.
apprivoisé « They've got a tame hedgehog. » [story, style, match, film] fade « Some of today's political demonstrations look rather tame. » apprivoiser, dompter, dresser « The Amazons were the first to tame horses. »
dispute a feud between the prime minister and his chancellor a family feud to feud (with) = se disputer, se quereller their families had feuded since their daughters quarrelled two years ago. blood feud =vendetta
gémissement [+siren, engine] hurlement the whine of air-raid sirens pleurnicher, gémir The dog started to whine with impatience [siren, engine] hurler The engines whined
faussement effarouché, faussement timide séducteur a coy little smile. évasif to be coy over sth, to be coy about sth « The Chancellor was coy over the deal with the Prime Minister. »
enjambée, foulée he walked with long strides. démarche he had a purposeful stride = Il avait une démarche décidée. avancée a great stride has been taken towards our goal
fouet, cravache to whip = battre to whip the cream to crack the whip = to use one's authority to make someone work harder, usually by threatening or punishing them whiplash = coup du lapin
brettelles "belt and braces" = très prudent, qui garantit une sécurité maximum a belt-and-braces solution
accolades balanced braces bracing = vivifiant
[clothes] terne, morne Mary was wearing the same drab grey dress. [room, place] glauque his drab little office [life] monotone a way of escaping the tedium of their drab lives