sông sâu sóng cả
Deep rivers and great waves — perils and hardships that must be crossed.
Browse all entries 5664
All languages English Tiếng Việt
sĩ vị tri kỉ giả dụng, nữ vị duyệt kỉ giả dung
The able serve those who know them; a woman adorns herself for the one who loves her — recognition is the soil of worth.
sơn hào hải vị
choice viands; choice delicacies; luxury gourmet food
sướng chết đi được
So good you could die — the cry for luck too sweet to bear.
sảy cha còn chú
Lose father, uncle remains — the middle link of the kin-shelter chain.
sảy cha còn chú, sảy mẹ bú dì
Lose father, uncle remains; lose mother, nurse at auntie's — the kin-chain that catches the orphan.
sảy chú bú dì
Lose the uncle, nurse at auntie's — the last link in the old chain of family shelter.
sảy mẹ bú dì
Losing mother, nursed by aunt — orphaned into the next-best arms.
sảy mẹ còn cha
Lose mother, father remains — the family's chain of shelter: father, then uncle, then aunt.
sẩm vào cuội ra
The rich eat; the poor endure — the same table, two experiences.
sẩm vớ được gậy
The blind minstrel finds a staff — the needed thing arriving in the neediest hand.
sắc
(adjective) sharp (able to cut easily)
sẽ gầy
Sẽ gầy — punning slang ('will get thin') for same-sex intimacy between men.
sểnh nạ quạ tha
Stray from mother and the crow carries you off — the unwatched small are the taken small.
số cô chẳng giàu thì nghèo Ngày ba mươi Tết thịt treo trong nhà. Số cô có mẹ có cha Mẹ cô đàn bà, cha cô đàn ông. Số cô có vợ có chồng, sinh con đầu lòng, chẳng gái thì trai
Your fate: if not rich then poor; on Tết's eve, meat hangs in the house; you have a mother and father — mother female, father male; a spouse awaits, and your firstborn — girl if not boy — the immortal parody of fortune-tellers.
số giàu tay trắng cũng giàu, số nghèo chín đụn mười trâu cũng nghèo
Fated rich, empty hands still prosper; fated poor, nine barns and ten buffalo still drain away — fortune as the senior partner.
số giàu đem đến dửng dưng, lọ là con mắt tráo trưng mới giàu
Fated rich, wealth ambles up unbidden — bulging eyes were never the way to riches.
số là
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see số, là.
sống chết mặc bay
Live or die, it's your affair — total, shameless abandonment of responsibility.
sống gởi nạc, thác gởi xương
Alive, entrusting the flesh; dead, the bones — the orphan's plea for keeping, cradle to grave.
sống khôn chết thiêng
Wise in life, hallowed in death — a good soul keeps its power past the grave.
sống lâu lên lão làng
Live long enough, become the village elder — seniority as an automatic promotion.
sống mỗi người một nết, chết mỗi người một tật
Alive, each their own quirk; dead, each their own flaw — individuality persists to the grave and past the eulogy.
sống một đồng không hết, chết mười đồng không đủ
Alive, one coin lasts; dead, ten aren't enough — the funeral spends what the life saved.
sống quê cha, ma quê chồng
Live in father's village, haunt the husband's — a woman's addresses, in life and after.
sống thì con chẳng cho ăn Chết thì xôi thịt, làm văn tế trời
Alive, you gave them nothing to eat; dead, you lay out feasts and read odes to heaven — the verse that shames performative mourning.
sống đồng tịch đồng sàng, thác đồng quan đồng quách
One mat and bed in life, one coffin in death — the marriage vow at its most absolute.
sống ở làng, sang ở nước
Live by the village, shine by the nation — belonging local, honor national.
sứa đâu có nhảy khỏi đăng
The jellyfish never jumps the weir — children do not overleap their parents' word.
sức dài vai rộng
Sallow face, lead-grey skin — illness or want written on the complexion.
sự bất quá tam
Nothing goes past three — three tries tells the tale; the customary limit of patience and proof.
sự bất đắt dỉ
A matter past helping — necessity's signature on the unwanted deed.
sự cữu kiến nhơn tâm
Time discloses the heart — only the long acquaintance audits truly.
sự hữu thỉ chung, vật phân bổn mạc
Affairs have beginning and end, things root and branch — order is built into whatever exists.
S'ving a performance of St
George and the ragon and the like, in dumb-show. Peel'd, patch'd, and piebald, linsey-woolsey brothers. Grave mummers! sleeveless some, and shirtless others. POPE; Dunciad, III, 115.
Sabbatical Year
One year in seven, when all land with the ancient Jews was to he fallow for twelve months. This law was founded on Exod. xxiii, 10, etc.; Lev. xxv, 2-7; Deut. xv, 1-11. In certain American and other universities the custom of allowing professors every seven years one full year during which he is free to study or travel without the obligation of teaching or lecturing.
sabo
A saboteur.
sacheverel
The iron door, or blower, to the mouth of a stove: from a divine of that name, who made himself famous for blowing the coals of dissension in the latter end of the reign of queen Ann.
sack
A pocket. To buy the sack: to get drunk. To dive into the sack; to pick a pocket. To break a bottle in an empty sack; a bubble bet, a sack with a bottle in it not being an empty sack.
sack
To "get the SACK," to be discharged by an employer. Varied in the North of England to "get the BAG." In London it is sometimes spoken of as "getting the EMPTY." It is common now to speak of "getting the BULLET," an evident play on the word discharge.
sack drill
a pointless or ineffective activity
sack of crap
something completely untrue or of no value
sacked out
sleeping or resting, often heavily or soundly
sacred cow
A person or thing considered inviolable or immune to criticism
Sacring Bell
The bell rung in R.C. churches at the consecration of the Host, or at its elevation. Now called Sanctus bell, from the words Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, dominus, Deus Sabaothy pronounced by the priest. From the obsolete verb to sacre, to consecrate, used especially of sovereigns and bishops.
Sacy's Bible
A French translation, so called from Louis Isaac le Maistre de Sacy, director of Port Royal, 1650-79, He was imprisoned for three years in the Bastille for his Jansenist opinions, and there translated the Bible, 1667, completing it a few years later, after his release.
sad bread
Heavy bread, bread that has not risen properly. Shake- speare calls it "distressful bread" — not the bread of distress, but the panis gravis or ill- made bread eaten by those who can't get better. :In America unleavened cakes are known as 'sad cakes.
sad dog
A wicked debauched fellow; one of the ancient family of the sad dogs. Swift translates it into Latin by the words TRISTIS CANIS.
sad dog
A merry fellow, a joker, a "gay" or "fast" man.
sad drunk
Someone who becomes melancholic when intoxicated
sad panda
Someone who is disappointed or unhappy
saddle
To saddle the spit; to give a dinner or supper. To saddle one's nose; to wear spectacles. To saddle a place or pension; to oblige the holder to pay a certain portion of his income to some one nominated by the donor. Saddle sick: galled with riding, having lost leather.
saddle
An additional charge made by the manager to a performer upon his benefit night.—Theatrical.
saddle tramp
A cowboy who travels from ranch to ranch seeking work
saddle-bag furniture
Chairs and so on upholstered in a cheap kind of carpeting, the design of which is based on that of the saddle- bags carried by camels in the East.
safe
A condom.
safe
Trusty, worthy of confidence. A SAFE card is a man who knows "what’s o’clock." A SAFE man among betters is one who is sure to fulfil his engagements.
safe and secure
Protected from harm or danger
safe and sound
A fixed-order word pair (irreversible binomial); full definition pending editorial review.
safe in the knowledge
Feeling secure because something is certain or guaranteed
Advertisement
Ad space — ads help keep Idiomer free. Premium will remove them.