Mots difficiles en anglais

tame

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. »

tenfold

décupler => The number of landmine incidents in Colombia has increased tenfold since 1991

titbit

potin She told me a juicy titbit about Claire.

moron

(péj.) imbécile, crétin, débile You moron! She's exactly the kind of moron you described.

holdout

principal obstacle. France has been the holdout in trying to negotiate an end to the dispute.

waiver

dispense

feud

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

whine

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

to grovel

(fig.) ramper He whined and grovelled and apologised
to grovel before/to sb I don't grovel to anybody.

to sting

[insect] piquer bees do not normally sting unless provoked. I've been stung.

silver lining

to have a silver lining = avoir de bons côtés
every cloud has a silver lining = à une chose, malheur est bon

dam

barrage plans to build a dam on the River Danube

nipple

téton

dumpster

benne à ordures

foreclosure

saisie « after a foreclosure, »« homeowners are sometimes left with absolutely nothing »

coy

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. »

stride

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

silver-tongued

éloquent a silver-tongued lawyer.

whip

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

wisecrack

vanne no more wisecracks!

to maul

mettre en pièces He was mauled by a bear He was mauled by the tabloids.

braces

brettelles
"belt and braces" = très prudent, qui garantit une sécurité maximum a belt-and-braces solution
accolades balanced braces
bracing = vivifiant

drab

[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 

ramble

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. 

craving

(for food, cigarettes) envie irrésistible smokers feel cravings roughly an hour after the last cigarette

condone

fermer les yeux sur, approuver (tacitement) You cannot condone baby buying

hindrance

obstacle Being the daughter of a famous film star can be more of a hindrance than a help in getting your career off the ground.

skank

salope, pute

to daunt

intimider he was daunted by the high quality of work they expected

to baffle

laisser perplexe The question has baffled experts for years his reaction baffled me «
»

baffling = déroutant, troublant « the most baffling medical mystery. »

shenanigans

combines Lynette thinks that our shenanigans have gotten a little out of hand

mojo

sex-appeal, charme
chance, bonne étoile

underdog

(=player, competitor, team) outsider
the underdog (in society) les opprimés Labour, constantly reassuring the middle class, was no longer the party of the underdog.

praise

éloge(s), faire l'éloge de qn many others praised Sanford for taking a strong stand.

shallow

[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.

wack job

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.

cue

signal
that's my cue to = c'est le signal pour que je... When she coughs, it's my cue to get up out of the chair.
on cue = au bon moment

deft

adroit

gist

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?

rule of thumb

méthode empirique, approximativement.
as a rule of thumb = en règle générale
by rule of thumb = à vue de nez

fang

[+dog, wolf] croc
[+snake] crochet the cobra sank its venomous fangs into his hand.

to contend with sth

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.

ditch

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.

prim

[person] collet monté, guindé She was a very prim lady

to hump

(argot) baiser Marcel, stop humping the lamp! Teach your dog to hump your leg on command!

weary

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

hustler

prostitué(e) Hi Snoop. What'chu wanna be when you grow up? I wanna be a motherfuckin' hustler !

sibling

frère, sœur His siblings are mostly in their early twenties.
sibling rivalry = rivalité entre frères et sœurs Sibling rivalry often causes parents anxieties.

case in point

(to be a) case in point = être un bon exemple Lack of communication causes relationships to fail. Your parents' marriage is a case in point.

grudge

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.
Haut de page