A DICTIONARY OF IDIOMS, FRENCH AND ENGLISH. BY W. A. BELLENGER, AUTHOR OF "MODERN FRENCH CONVERSATION," "FRENCH Second Edition, CORRECTED AND VERY CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED; The French Part, by the ABBÉ MQUIN, AND The English, by THOMAS HAIGH, A.M., Author of the "New School Latin Dictionary." LONDON: PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, GILBERT, AND PIPER, PATERNOSTER ROW. A DICTIONARY OF B4 1830 IDIOMS AND PROVERBS, FRENCH AND ENGLISH, A, Il ne sait ni A ni B. Je fus obligé de le remettre à l'A, B, C. Tout autre que vous l'aurait renvoyé à l'A, B, C. C'était à soixante ans nous mettre à l'A, B, C. (Regnard.) Vous auriez dû achever votre thème, et vous n'en avez pas encore fait une panse d'A. Être marqué à l'A. Cette expression proverbiale doit probablement son origine à ce que la monnaie Française est marquée d'une des lettres de l'alphabet. Les pièces frappées à Paris avec la lettre A, étant supposées être d'un meilleur métal, ont donné occasion au proverbe, "Il est B A He does not know A from B. I was obliged to make him begin afresh. Any other than yourself would have put him back to his hornbook. It was to send a sexagenarian to school. You ought to have finished your exercise, and you have not done a word of it. To be above the common stamp. This proverbial expression originated, probably, in the coinage of French money, which is stamped with letters appropriated to the different places where there is a mint. The coin that is struck at Paris is marked A, and supposed to be of better metal than any other. 431 |