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
randonnée We were out on a country ramble an hour's ramble through the woods to go for a ramble = faire une randonnée to ramble = to hike I was rambling over the hills of Yorkshire.
to ramble on = déblatérer she began rambling on about her childhood.
laisser perplexe The question has baffled experts for years his reaction baffled me
« » baffling = déroutant, troublant « the most baffling medical mystery. »
(=player, competitor, team) outsider the underdog (in society) les opprimés Labour, constantly reassuring the middle class, was no longer the party of the underdog.
[dish, water, grave] peu profond the shallow end = le petit bain [person, mind, novel] superficiel, qui manque de profondeur shallows = bas-fond thousands of little fish swim in the shallows.
cinglé, psychopathe (péj.) Let's cross the street. We don't want to walk next to that wack job on the corner who's walking in circles and talking to himself.
essentiel the gist of his speech = l'essentiel de son discours to give sb the gist of sth = résumer qch à qn en deux mots I missed his speech; can you give me the gist of what he said?
affronter qch, faire face It's bad enough when you have to contend with accidental fires to contend for sth = se disputer qch three parties are contending for power.
laisser tomber, abandonner the soft drink company has ditched plans to use Madonna in its advertising [= to dump] plaquer she's just ditched her boyfriend.
exténué, las she looked weary, a weary smile. to be weary of = être las de to weary of = se lasser de he's beginning to weary of sitting still. x war-weary = las de la guerre ; world-weary = las de ce monde
frère, sœur His siblings are mostly in their early twenties. sibling rivalry = rivalité entre frères et sœurs Sibling rivalry often causes parents anxieties.
rancune a disabled man with a grudge against society to bear a grudge = garder rancune
I don't bear a grudge. to bear a grudge against sb garder rancune à qn, en vouloir à qn
He appears to have a grudge against certain players.
point de suture
I had five stitches. point m de côté
I can't run any more, I've got a stitch. to be in stitches = être plié de rire Here's a book that will have you in stitches
[person] méchant abject she described the shooting as a wicked attack. a wicked, cruel man = un homme méchant et cruel It was clear that he had done something wicked = il était clair qu'il avait fait quelque chose de mal. [sense of humour] diabolique she had a wicked sense of humour. a wicked grin = me lança un sourire diabolique. [prices] monstrueux the prices are wicked in that shop. [waste] épouvantable it's a wicked waste of resources. (=great, cool) méchamment cool the film was wicked ! He's had this wicked new haircut.