da apă la moară

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Romanian

Etymology

Literally, “give water to mill”.

Verb

a da apă la moară (third-person singular present dă apă la moară, past participle dat apă la moară) 1st conjugation (idiomatic)

  1. (derogatory) to encourage or embolden
    • 1998, Lucian Boia, Jocul cu trecutul [Playing with the past], Bucharest: Humanitas, →ISBN, page 165:
      Tratarea prea severă a comunismului risca să dea apă la moară dreptei și extremei drepte.
      Too severe treatment of communism risked to embolden the right and the far right.
  2. to behave in a manner which counterproductively gives credence to one’s opponents
    • 1995 March 17–23, Andrei Pleșu, “Trahanache și interesul național [Trahanache and national interest]”, in Dilema, year 3, number 114, Bucharest, →ISSN, page 3:
      Cînd dl. Funar agită spiritele, incită la conflict civil și dă apă la moară echivalenților săi din tabăra maghiară, el crede că slujește “interesul național”.
      When Mr. Funar stirs the pot, incites to civil conflict and lends credence to his counterparts from the Hungarian camp, he believes he’s serving the “national interest”.

Further reading

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