Browse all entries 2428

ăn kĩ làm dối

Thorough at eating, slapdash at working — careful only where the appetite is concerned.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn kỉ no dai

Careful eating keeps you full the longer — providence now is comfort later.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn kỹ no lâu, cầy sâu tốt lúa

Chew well, stay full; plow deep, reap thick — thoroughness feeds twice.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn làm sóng, nói làm gió

Making waves of meals and wind of words — stirring commotion out of eating and talking alike.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn lông ở lỗ

to live as if one is a prehistoric man

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn lắm ỉa nhiều

Much eating, much dunging — the idle glutton produces nothing else.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn may

(verb) to win or succeed by sheer luck rather than skill or effort

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn mày dĩ vãng

To beg from the past — to live off old glories and keep trading on what you once did.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn mày quen ngõ

The beggar knows the lane — habit wears its own path to the same door.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn mày đòi sôi-gấc, ăn chực đòi bánh-chưng

The beggar demanding gấc-red sticky rice, the freeloader demanding bánh chưng — dependency with a tasting menu.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn mắm ngắm về sau

Eat fish-paste, expect the thirst after — pleasures bill their sequel.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn mặn nói ngay

Eat salty and speak straight — better plain-living honesty than fasting hypocrisy.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn như gấu ăn giăng

Eating like the bear eating the moon — devouring on a mythological scale.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn nhờ ở đậu

to live in someone else's house and rely on them for food and shelter

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn no sanh sự

A full belly breeds mischief — comfort is where trouble learns to walk.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn nên làm ra

to bring benefits; to be profitable

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn nói xà lơ

Talking nonsense; saying something totally off — “xà lơ” is a playful take on “sai lơ” (dead wrong).

Tiếng Việt Slang Attested

ăn quen, nhịn không quen

Indulgence comes easy; abstaining doesn't — appetites train faster than restraint ever will.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn quả bỏ hột

Eat the fruit, toss the seed — enjoyment that discards its own next harvest.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn sẻ sẻ đẻ ông voi

Eat like a sparrow, lose like an elephant — the gambler's diet: tiny wins, giant losses.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn sống nuốt tươi

Eaten raw and swallowed live — consumed without ceremony; overwhelmed in one bite.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn theo thuở, ở theo thì

Eat by the season, live by the times — bend your habits to the hour you're given.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn thì cho, buôn thì so

Food is given freely; goods are haggled — meals escape arithmetic, trade never does.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn thì hơn, hờn thì thiệt

Eating gains, sulking loses — storm off and you forfeit your share.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn thì vóc, học thì hay

Food builds the frame, study builds the mind — nourishment shows in the body, learning in the wit.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn thùng uống vại

to eat and drink excessively or gluttonously; to have a massive appetite

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn to nói lớn

to be straightforward, bold, and decisive in one's conduct and speech

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn trước trả sau

Eat first, pay after — enjoying now what must be settled later.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn trầu cách mắt

Betel passed over one guest — the gift that skips an eye makes an enemy of it.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn trầu gẫm

Chewing betel in thought — turning the world over slowly, quid in cheek.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn trắng mặc trơn

to live a life of leisure, comfort, and wealth

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn trộm có tang, chơi ngang có tích

Theft leaves evidence, mischief leaves a record — wrongdoing files its own paperwork.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn trộm quen tay, ngủ ngày quen mắt

Thieving trains the hand as day-sleep trains the eye — practice a vice and it becomes your nature.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn tàn phá hại

to be extremely destructive and wasteful; to consume resources without contributing anything

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn tấm trả giặt

Eat broken rice, repay whole grains — borrow small and repay large, as gambling debts go.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn tục nói phét

to habitually use foul language and tell tall tales or lies

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn vỏ dưa, thấy vỏ dừa mà sợ

Slipped on a melon rind, now afraid of coconut husks — one fall, and every peel looks lethal.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn xôi chùa ngọng miệng

Temple sticky-rice ties the tongue — accept a benefactor's food and your honest opinions choke.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ăn xổi

to eat food (usually vegetables) that has been pickled or prepared for immediate consumption

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn xổi ở thì

short-sighted, lacking foresight; temporary, makeshift

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn ốc nói mò

To eat snails and talk by groping — to make baseless guesses; to speak without knowing the facts.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ăn ở xởi lởi ông trời gởi cho

Live open-handed and heaven keeps you stocked — generosity is a supply line, not a leak.

Tiếng Việt Proverb Attested

ải mĩ nhân

The beauty pass — the trap where a man's judgment goes to die; seduction deployed with intent.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ấm a ấm ớ

Humming and hawing — mumbling evasively, never giving a straight answer.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ấm cật no lòng

Warm-backed and full-bellied — living in comfort and plenty.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ấm ớ hội tề

Mumbling like the village council — deliberately vague, neither confirming nor denying.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ấp rắn vào ngực

To clutch a snake to your chest — to shelter someone who will turn on you.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

ầu ơ, gió đưa bụi chuối sau hè Anh mê vợ bé bỏ bè con thơ

Lullaby: wind stirs the banana clump behind the house — he chases the minor wife and abandons raft and children — the deserted family's cradle song.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ầu ơ, gió đưa gió đẩy về rẫy ăn còng Về sông ăn cá, về đồng ăn cua

Lullaby: wind blows and shoves — to the clearing for còng crabs, to the river for fish, to the fields for crabs — the roaming song of making-do.

Tiếng Việt Saying Attested

ậm à ậm ừ

Umming and ahing — grunting vaguely to dodge every question at hand.

Tiếng Việt Idiom Attested

a 1

First-rate, the very best; "she’s a prime girl, she is; she is A 1."—Sam Slick. The highest classification of ships at Lloyd’s; common term in the United States; also at Liverpool and other English seaports. Another, even more intensitive form is "first-class, letter A, No. 1." Some people choose to say A I, for no reason, however, beyond that of being different from others.

English Idiom Historical

a bad excuse is better than none

Any explanation is more acceptable than no explanation at all

English Proverb Candidate

a bad job

An unfortunate happening; a bad speculation.

English Idiom Historical

a bad lot

A person of bad moral character, or one commercially unsound. Also a com- mercial project or stock of worthless value. Perhaps from auctioneering slang, meaning a lot which no one will bid for.

English Idiom Historical

a bad settlement is better than a good lawsuit

English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.

English Proverb Candidate

a bad shot

A wrong guess, A sporting phrase; a bad shot is one which doesiiot bring down the bird shot at, one that misses the mark.

English Idiom Historical

a bad workman blames his tools

Incompetent people blame external factors for their mistakes

English Proverb Candidate

a bad workman quarrels with his tools

English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.

English Proverb Candidate

a bag of bones

Very emaciated ; generally "A mere bag of bones.

English Idiom Historical

a ball of fortune

One tossed like a ball, from pillar to post; one who has experienced many vicissitudes of fortune.

English Idiom Historical