Mots difficiles en anglais

head over heels

éperduement
« to fall head over heels in love » = tomber éperduement amoureux

blender

mixeur « Put all the ingredients in a blender. »

flake

faux jeton, tire-au-flanc : « John called in sick to work again today. He's such a flake. » « Mary said she would do the research for our project, but it's been a week and she hasn't done a thing. She's such a flake. »

shorty

(jolie) fille, gonzesse, petite amie « Yo shorty, it's your birthday »

cunning

rusé, malin « on their second raid they were more cunning. »  
[device, idea] astucieux
astuce , ruse (péj.) « they achieved their aim by stealth and cunning. »

clutch

étreinte, prise
serrer fort the boy's mother was sitting clutching a handkerchief.   
to clutch at sth  = se cramponner à qch Ella stood outside, vainly trying to clutch at the door handle
  (fig)  sauter sur qch She would have clutched at any excuse to miss school for the day.   
[+car] embrayage (clutch pedal) « Gently release the clutch pedal until you feel the car trying to pull away. »

pushy

insistant « a pushy, aggressive door-to-door salesman. » « We didn't want to seem to be pushy parents. »

to pass along

faire passer « he lit a joint a passed it along. » « It was the first time that this magazine was passed along to me. »

by hook or by crook

coûte que coûte « I'll get there by hook or crook. »

off the hook

trop cool « That party was off the hook! » (=off the chain « this party is really off the chain!! »)
to get off the hook = se tirer d'affaire « Government officials accused of bribery and corruption often get off the hook. »   
to let sb off the hook = laisser qn s'en tirer « the Opposition has let the government off the hook »
  to take the phone off the hook = décrocher le téléphone

relentless

implacable « the pressure now was relentless.  The relentless heat of the desert. » (=la chaleur implacable du désert).
[rain] continuel(le)  
  [person, enemy, pursuit] implacable (=never giving up) « He was relentless in his pursuit of quality » « He was the most relentless enemy I have ever known »

to screen

masquer
protéger « I moved in front of her trying to screen her.  The house is screened from the road by high hedges. She screened her eyes from the wind. »
[+film] projeter , diffuser « The series is likely to be screened in January. »
  [+candidates, employees] contrôler « The Secret Service screens several hundred people every week »    « women screened for breast cancer »
[+telephone calls] filtrer « I employ a secretary to screen my telephone calls »

downtime

temps d'arrêt « I was so tired, I decided I needed to have a little downtime. »

off the top of my head

de tête « off the top of my head, here are a few examples » (=de tête, voici quelques exemples).
= OTTOMH « I don't remember details ottomh, but... »

off the record

officieux « The minister's remarks were strictly off-the-record. »

boarding school

pensionnat « They sent their children to boarding school. » 

nifty

  [car, jacket, bag] qui a du chic, qui a de la classe (=stylish)
[place] chouette « Bridgeport was a pretty nifty place »
[gadget, tool] astucieux « this nifty Add-On lets you search our full database from your browser » « a couple of nifty tricks that I've seen scattered around the Internet. »

scramble

bousculade  « There was a mad scramble for the back seat. » (=il y eut une folle bousculade pour la place du fond.)
lutte « in their scramble for top spot in the charts » (=dans leur lutte pour la première place au hit-parade).
the scramble for jobs = la ruée sur les emplois
avancer péniblement « Tourists were scrambling over the rocks. » (= les touristes avançaient péniblement dans les rochers).
to scramble for   [+door, exit] se ruer vers « I scrambled for the door »
to scramble for   [+tickets, shares, prize] s'arracher « More than three million fans are expected to scramble for tickets. »
[+signal, message] brouiller
[+eggs] brouiller

cramp

crampe  « I had the most excruciating cramp in my leg. »
génant (=awkward)  « when u get 2 people in a room who dont like each other, its cramp, for u and for them. »  « I caught my brother havin sex... ahhhh, cramp! »
to cramp sb's style = priver qn de ses moyens « He thinks marriage would cramp his style. »

tiptoe

on tiptoe = sur la pointe des pieds « They stretched their arms and stood on tiptoe. »
to tiptoe= marcher sur la pointe des pieds « He tiptoed out of the room » (=il sortit de la chambre sur la pointe des pieds). « she tiptoed to the window » (=elle alla à la fenêtre sur la pointe des pieds).

to skulk

se cacher « They were skulking in a corner ».   
to skulk off = s'en aller en douce

chuckle

glousser « the joke made me chuckle
»

to wind

[+rope, bandage] to wind sth around sth = enrouler qch autour de qch → « wind the wire round the screws. → She wound the bandage around his knee. »
[+clock, toy] remonter → « he stopped to wind his watch. »
[road, river] serpenter → to wind through sth = serpenter à travers qch → « The river winds through the town. → The road winds through the valley. »

cranky

[idea] excentrique, loufoque
grincheux, revêche (=bad-tempered) there was no point in being cranky and not talking to him Why are you so cranky today? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

wrangle

bataille → « a contractual wrangle between a football club and a player → he was involved in a legal wrangle with his cousin. »
to wrangle = se disputer → to wrangle with sb over sth (=se battre contre qn au sujet de qch) → « she had wrangled bitterly with her ex-husband over contact with their children. »

jam

confiture « strawberry jam »
[+shoppers] cohue
traffic jam = bouchon
to be in a jam = être dans le pétrin « I'm in a real jam, I've got an important meeting at 9 and the damned car won't start. » « He finds himself in exactly the same jam as his brother was in ten years ago. »
to get sb out of a jam = « tirer qn du pétrin »
encombrer, obstruer, saturer crowds jammed the streets. « The office phone lines are jammed by callers opposed to the sale. TV viewers jammed BBC switchboards to complain. »

to soak

tremper → « water came in the tent and soaked both sleeping bags. »
[+dishes, pots] faire tremper, laisser tremper → « soak the material in bleach for several hours. »

there's a catch

c'est une attrape; il y a anguille sous roche « you can fly Skybus for 10 bucks, but there's a catch! »
cf.: pitfall piège, chausse-trape « The pitfalls of working abroad are numerous. »

shifty

[person, behaviour] louche « he looked shifty » (il avait l'air louche).
[eyes] fuyant

from the get go

from the start, since the begining (=since the get go)

to tick off

cocher → « he ticked off our names on the list. »
passer un savon à qn → « She ticked me off for being late. »
mettre qn en rogne → « I just think it's rude and it's ticking me off. »
to be ticked off at sb = être en rogne contre qn → « she's still ticked off at him for brushing her off » (brush off = envoyer balader).

chill

froid → she turned on the fire to take the chill from the air.
coup de froid → she caught a bad chill.
frisson → The sound sent a chill down my spine.
faire frissonner → the marble floor was beginning to chill me.
spine-chilling : à vous glacer le sang

chill out = se relaxer
chilled out = décontracté → « I'm a lot more chilled out now than I used to be. → a club with a chilled-out atmosphere. »

to rankle

rester en travers de la gorge (fig.) → I've tried very hard to forget it but it still rankles.
to rankle with sb → his behaviour rankles with me still = sa conduite me reste encore en travers de la gorge.

flirt

flirter → she's been flirting with him all evening
dragueur(-euse) → « she's a terrible flirt. »

hop

sauter, sauter à cloche-pied
to hop out of bed = sauter du lit
hop in! = montez!

fancy

avoir envie de « do you fancy a cup of tea? » « I fancy an ice cream » « do you fancy going to see a movie sometime? »
plaire « he fancies her » = elle lui plaît.
de luxe, huppé, chic (=swiwh) « I have eaten in every fancy restaurant in this town » « they sent me to a fancy private school. »
fantaisie,imagination « is it fact or fancy? » Est-ce réel ou imaginaire? « He paints whatever his fancy suggests. »
to have a fancy (that) = avoir l'idée que « I have a slight fancy that the trophy will stay in Scotland this time. »
croire « he fancied that he saw a shadow pass close to the window. »
a passing fancy = un caprice « She did not suspect that his interest was just a passing fancy. »
a childhood fancy = un rêve d'enfance « It was just a childhood fancy » « I had a childhood fancy that I would one day be famous. »
to take a fancy to [+person] se prendre d'affection pour
to take sb's fancy, to catch sb's fancy = plaire à qn « He bought a vase that had taken his fancy. » « It took my fancy »= ça m'a plu.

to be nauseous

avoir mal au cœur, avoir envie de vomir (=to feel nauseous) « I started feeling dizzy and nauseous. »
nauseous = nauséabond, écœurant « he found her Sixties idealism nauseous. »
◊ prononcer NOSHOUS

tbc

to be confirmed (à confirmer)

to despise

mépriser → « I can never forgive him. I despise him. »

clockwise

dans le sens des aiguilles d'une montre → « he pushed the bolt (verrou) back in and twisted it clockwise. »
counterclockwise (direction) = dans le sens inverse des aiguilles d'une montre → « the dance moves in a counterclockwise direction. »

DWI

Driving While Intoxicated. Synonym of DUI (Driving Under The Influence) « I got pulled over and charged with a DUI ».

pizza parlour

pizzeria

glitter

scintiller, briller → « her jewellery glittered under the spotlight → The Palace glittered with lights → His eyes glittered with amusement. »
éclat → « the glitter and glamour of her life »
paillettes → « Christmas cards covered with glitter »

to dump

déposer → « we dumped our stuff at the hotel. »
jeter
abandonner → « the car was dumped on the motorway. »
to dump waste = déverser des déchets →« the company dumped the waste in the river. »
vendre à bas prix
plaquer → « he's just dumped his girlfriend. »

fishy

au poisson, de poisson « this will help to eliminate any fishy odours. »
suspect, louche (=dodgy)
there's something fishy = il y a quelque chose de louche ; il y a anguille sous roche

Moses

Moïse

creep

se glisser « they watched the boy creep towards the bush. »
to creep across sth = traverser qch à pas de loup

saligaud, sale type « leave me alone, you creep » he's a creep (c'est un sale type)


to give sb the creeps = donner la chair de poule, faire froid dans le dos It gives me the creeps (ça me fait froid dans le dos).
to creep up = grimper « interest rates were creeping up »


creepy = qui fait frissonner, qui donne la chair de poule (=frightening) « his creepy old house may be haunted » 
[person] sinistre « what secrets is their creepy landlord hiding? »

sloshed

bourré (drunk) → I got so fucking sloshed last night!

dismay

consternation, désarroi
much to my dismay = à ma grande consternation, à mon grand désarroi → « I discovered, much to my dismay, that the house was no longer there. »

pointless

inutile, vain → « violence is always pointless »
dénué de sens → « a pointless display of macho strength. »
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