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
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.