Each Italian idiom below comes with what its words literally say, what it means and how other languages put the same idea. To see every language at once, open the side-by-side page for work.
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lit. ‘have a lot of meat on the fire’
To have a lot of work or problems to deal with at once.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘to stay with your hands in your hands’
To be very lazy and avoid work.
Elsewhere
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Prendere due piccioni con una fava
lit. ‘catch two pigeons with one bean’
To get two things done with a single action.
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lit. ‘not to get a spider out of the hole’
To be stuck and unable to work something out.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘the little cherry on the cake’
Something extra that makes a good thing even better.
Elsewhere
- EN The icing on the cake
- FR La cerise sur le gâteau
- DE Das i-Tüpfelchen
- DE Das Sahnehäubchen
- ES La guinda del pastel
- JA 画竜点睛
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lit. ‘the stone of the question’
That's the central point that everything else depends on.
Elsewhere
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Sbaglia anche il prete all’altare
lit. ‘even the priest makes mistakes at the altar’
Even the most skilled people sometimes make mistakes.
Elsewhere
- EN Even Homer nods
- FR Il n’y a si bon cheval qui ne bronche
- ES Al mejor cazador se le va la liebre
- JA 猿も木から落ちる
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lit. ‘a game for kids’
Something is very easy to do.
Elsewhere
- EN A piece of cake
- FR C’est du gâteau
- DE Ein Kinderspiel
- ES Es pan comido
- JA 朝飯前
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lit. ‘to put it off to the Greek calends’
To keep putting something off instead of dealing with it.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘at a snail’s pace’
Very slowly.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘to throw the sponge’
To give up and admit defeat.
Elsewhere
- EN Throw in the towel
- FR Jeter l’éponge
- DE Das Handtuch werfen
- ES Tirar la toalla
- JA お手上げ
Phrases in bold with a red marker are written up. The rest don’t have their own page yet.