attrait the lure of rural life keep him away from the lure of other women. attirer par la ruse to lure sb into sth : they were being lured into a trap he had lured her into his room. [+customers] attirer to lure sb into [+shop, restaurant] = attirer qn dans they use low prices to lure customers into their superstores.
to tout for sth = chercher qch An attempt to tout for a sponsor to tout for business = chercher du travail faire l'article pour an US election campaign, with slick television ads touting the candidates the practice of using celebrities to tout products to be touted as sth = être présenté comme qch The product is touted as being completely natural.
sophistiqué, très au point There's a big difference between an amateur video and a slick Hollywood production. fluide a slick gear change. [person, speech] mielleux slick politicians. oil slick = nappe de pétrole, marée noire The oil slick is now 35 miles long.
participer, prendre part à you will probably be asked about whether you partake in vigorous sports to partake of [+food, drink] prendre He refused to partake of the modest meal she had prepared.
(=out of one's mind) affolé(e) A bird had been locked in and was by now quite frantic to go frantic être dans tous ses états I was going frantic. J'étais dans tous mes états. to be frantic with worry être fou d'inquiétude We were frantic with worry.
(=hectic) frénétique ... a frantic week of high-level discussions.
[efforts, activity] frénétique Ambulancemen made frantic efforts to revive him
(=desperate)
[need, desire] effréné(e)
oeil pour oeil, dent pour dent. donnant donnant. It's tit for tat: c'est un prêté pour un rendu. To give tit for tat: répondre du tac au tac. To give somebody tit for tat: rendre la pareille à quelqu'un. a series of tit-for-tat expulsions = une escalade des expulsions
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