Parler franÇais comme une vache espagnole = To talk horribly bad French. (See FranÇais.)

“Un homme qui n’a jamais mangÉ de la vache enragÉe n’est jamais qu’une poule mouillÉe” (Mme. de Girardin) = A man who has never roughed it is always a milksop.

C’est le grand chemin des vaches = That is the beaten track.

Le plancher des vaches (fam.) = Terra firma.

*“À vaincre sans pÉril, on triomphe sans gloire” = Where there is no danger, there is no glory.

[Corneille, Cid, ii. 2. Compare: “Scit eum sine gloria vinci qui sine periculo vincitur.”—Seneca, De Providentia, iii.]

Il n’y a pas de grand homme pour son valet de chambre = No man is a hero to his valet.

On ne prend pas de valet pour se servir soi-mÊme = What! keep a dog and bark thyself!

“Aux Âmes bien nÉes
La valeur n’attend pas le nombre des annÉes.”
Corneille, Cid, ii. 2.

= Really brave men show their valour when quite young.

Cela vaut fait = That is as good as done.

Vaut bien que mal = Vaille que vaille = At all events; For better, for worse.

Il se fait trop valoir = He brags too much.

Je suis en veine de le faire = I am just in the humour to do it.

J’ai de la veine (pop.) = I am in luck.

Faire patte de velours = To speak smoothly; To draw in one’s claws.

*Habit de velours, ventre de son = Silks and satins put out the kitchen fire.

[Compare: “Dress drains our cellar dry,
And keeps our larder lean.”
Cowper, Task, ii. 614.
An old French dicton says:
“Ne sois paon en ton parer,
Ny perroquet en ton parler,
Ny cicogne en ton manger,
Ny oye aussi en ton marcher.”]

*Chose qui plaÎt est À moitiÉ vendue = Good wares make quick market; Please the eye and fill the purse.

[“Chose qui plaist est À demy vendue.”—Charles D’OrlÉans, Rondeau 194.]

*Tout vient À point À qui sait attendre = Everything comes to the man who waits.

[The older form of the proverb omitted À; for qui = si on.]

C’est un beau venir y voir = A pretty sight indeed!

OÙ voulez-vous en venir? = What are you driving at? What is your drift?

Il se vante d’en venir À bout = He says he is sure to succeed.

Il fait un vent À dÉcorner (or, Écorner) un boeuf = There is a wind enough to blow one’s head off.

Autant en emporte le vent = That is but so much breath spent in vain; It is not of the slightest consequence.

*Vent au visage rend un homme sage = Adversity makes a man wise, not rich.

Celui qui sÈme le vent rÉcolte la tempÊte = He who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind; Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

*Ventre affamÉ prend tout en grÉ =
“They that have no other meat,
Bread and butter are glad to eat.”

*Ventre affamÉ n’a point d’oreilles = A hungry man will not listen to reason; A hungry man is an angry man.

Cela lui remet du coeur au ventre (fam.) = That gives him courage again.

Savoir ce que quelqu’un a dans le ventre (fam.) = To know what a person is worth, what he thinks; To know the stuff a man is made of.

Il n’a pas trois mois dans le ventre (fam.) = He cannot live three months.

Le cheval courait ventre À terre = The horse was running as hard as he could tear.

Il Était À plat ventre = He was flat on his face.

Nu comme un ver = Stark naked; As naked as when one was born.

*On dit souvent la vÉritÉ en riant = There is many a true word spoken in jest.

Toute vÉritÉ n’est pas bonne À dire = All truths are not to be spoken at all times.

La vÉritÉ comme l’huile vient au-dessus = Truth will out; It takes a good many shovelfuls of earth to bury the Truth.

[The Spaniards say: La verdad es hija de Dios = Truth is the daughter of God.]

C’est une vÉritÉ de Monsieur de la Palisse = It is an evident truth.

[M. de la Palisse is the hero of a lengthy poem, one of the verses of which runs as follows: “M. de la Palisse est mort
Mort de maladie
Un quart d’heure avant sa mort
Il Était encore en vie.”]

Il court comme un verrier dÉchargÉ = He runs like a lamplighter. (See Chat.)

[Glaziers, when carrying glass, have to walk carefully and slowly. When they have got rid of their load they make up for lost time.]

“Les plus beaux vers sont ceux qu’on ne peut pas Écrire.”—(Lamartine, Voyage en Orient) =
“Ah! the best prayers that faith may ever think
Are untranslatable by pen and ink.”
Bishop Alexander.

Vous ne le prendrez pas sans vert = You will not catch him napping.

[An old game that used to be played in May was for two people to undertake to be able always to show a green twig: failure to do so lost the game.]

Une verte vieillesse = A hale old age.

Ils sont trop verts = The grapes are sour.

[La Fontaine, Le Renard et les Raisins, iii. 11.]

Mettre un cheval au vert = To send a horse to grass.

Il veut nous faire prendre des vessies pour des lanternes = He wishes us to believe the moon is made of green cheese.

[“Me voulez vous faire entendant
De vecies que ce sont lanternes?”
Maistre Pierre Pathelin, 800.]

Faire vie qui dure = To live temperately; To husband one’s resources.

Avoir la vie dure = 1. To have a hard time. 2. To have nine lives.

Vieux comme les rues, comme le monde = As old as the hills.

C’est un homme de la vieille roche = He is a man of the old school; he belongs to the good old stock.

Un vieux de la vieille = A veteran of the old Imperial Guard; One of the old brigade.

Vieil ami et vieux vin sont vraiment deux bons vieux, mais vieux Écus sont encore mieux = Old friends and old wine are good, but old gold is better than both.

[“Alonzo of Arragon was wont to say in commendation of Age, that Age appeared to be best in four things: Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.”—Bacon, Apophthegms, 101.]

Trancher (or, couper) dans le vif = (lit.) To cut to the quick; (fig.) To set to work in earnest.

Ce reproche l’a piquÉ au vif = That reproach stung him to the quick.

Il est vif comme la poudre = 1. He is quick-tempered. 2. He is bustling, quick at work.

De vive voix = By word of mouth; Orally.

Ce sont des descriptions prises sur le vif = Those descriptions are life-like.

Les paysans dans ce tableau sont pris sur le vif = The peasants in that picture are life-like.

Il est dans les vignes du Seigneur = He is in his cups.

Du vin À faire danser les chÈvres = Sour wine not fit to drink.

*À bon vin point d’enseigne = Good wine needs no bush.

[It was a Roman custom to hang out a branch of ivy at the doors of taverns in honour of Bacchus. Branches of green stuff may still be seen at the doors of wineshops along the Loire and in Burgundy. Kelly traces the word “bosky” (i.e. drunk) to this bush.]

Être entre deux vins = To be half seas over (pop.).

*Le vin entre, la raison sort = When ale is in, wit is out.

On ne connaÎt pas le vin aux cercles = You can’t judge cigars by the picture on the box.

Tremper son vin = To water one’s wine.

[Tremper = tempÉrer, not to wet, but to moderate.]

Vous mouillez trop votre vin = You are drowning the miller.

Cela est un peu violent = That is too bad.

Payer les violons = To pay the piper.

Je lui ai rompu en visiÈre = I attacked (or, contradicted) him openly.

[“Je n’y puis plus tenir, j’enrage; et mon dessein
Est de rompre en visiÈre À tout le genre humain.”
MoliÈre, Le Misanthrope, i. 1.

Literally the phrase means: to break one’s lance against the visor of one’s enemy.]

Plus vite que Ça (fam.) = Look sharp about it.

Je n’ai pas trouvÉ Âme qui vive = I did not find a soul.

*Qui vivra verra = He who lives longest will see most; Time will show (tell).

Monsieur vit de ses rentes = The gentleman is independent (i.e. has an income of his own).

Apprendre À vivre = To learn manners.

Je lui apprendrai À vivre = I will teach him better manners (as a threat).

Comme c’est vÉcu! = How true to life!

Ils en sont venus aux voies de fait = They came to blows.

Il est toujours par voies et par chemins = He is always on the move, rambling.

Les affaires sont en voie de hausse = Things are looking up.

Être sur la voie = To be on the scent.

Je suis en voie de le finir = I am in a fair way to finish it.

Comme le voilÀ sale! = Just see how dirty he is!

Ne voilÀ-t-il pas qu’il est revenu = Who should come back but he?

VoilÀ comme vous Êtes = That is just like you.

VoilÀ comme je suis = You must take me as I am; That’s my way.

On n’y voit goutte = One can see nothing.

J’y vois trouble = I see dimly; My sight is dim.

Vous n’avez rien À y voir = That is no business of yours.

Au vu et au su de tout le village = Openly, before the whole village.

Je vous vois venir = I see what you are driving at.

J’ai voulu voir par moi-mÊme = I wish to see with my own eyes.

Il nous en a fait voir de toutes les couleurs = He told us all sorts of tales; He worried us beyond all bearing.

Je n’ai pas voix au chapitre = (lit.) I have no right to speak; (fig.) My opinion is not listened to.

Il a obtenu cela entre bond et volÉe = He obtained that at a lucky moment.

À toute volÉe = At random; At full swing.

Il est de la haute volÉe = He is a tip-top swell, of the first water, of the upper ten.

Voler (to fly)

On pouvait entendre voler une mouche = One could hear a pin drop.

Voler (to steal)

*Il ne l’a pas volÉ = He richly deserves it.

*Quand les voleurs se battent, les larcins se dÉcouvrent = When thieves fall out, honest men get their own.

*La bonne volontÉ est reputÉe pour le fait = The will is as good as (is taken for) the deed.

Je serai des vÔtres = I shall be one of your party; I shall be on your side.

Vous avez fait des vÔtres = You have committed follies yourself; You have played pranks too.

Je ne sais À quel saint me vouer = I do not know which way to turn.

*Vouloir c’est pouvoir = Where there’s a will there’s a way.

[Also: La volontÉ rend tout possible.

“Impossible est un mot que je ne dis jamais.”—Collin d’Harleville, Malice pour Malice, i. 8.

NapolÉon I., in a letter to Lemarois, 9th July 1813, wrote: “Ce n’est pas possible, m’Écrivez vous, cela n’est pas FranÇais.”

“Mirabeau disait un jour À son secrÉtaire: ‘Impossible! ne me dites jamais ce bÊte de mot.’”—Dumont, Vie de Mirabeau, quoted in Carlyle’s French Revolution, vol. ii. p. 118.]

Que voulez-vous? = 1. What do you want? What can I do for you? 2. What was to be done? 3. What can you expect?

Vous l’avez voulu! = It is your own fault; You would have it.

[“Vous l’avez voulu, George Dandin!”
MoliÈre, George Dandin, i. 9.]

On ne peut lui en vouloir = One cannot be angry with him, blame him.

En veux-tu? en voilÀ! = As much as ever you like.

Il y en avait À bouche que veux-tu = There was an abundant supply of it; There was plenty for every one.

Il sait ce que parler veut dire = He understands the hidden meaning; He takes the hint.

Je le veux bien = With pleasure! I have no objection.

*“Le vrai peut quelquefois n’Être pas vraisemblable” = Truth is stranger than fiction.

[Boileau, Art PoÉtique, iii. 48.]