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faire l'école buissonnière. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
faire l'école buissonnière, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
faire l'école buissonnière in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
faire l'école buissonnière you have here. The definition of the word
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faire l'école buissonnière, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
French
Etymology
Literally, "Make school (hidden) in bushes". Where the idiom comes from is quite unclear. There are three possibilities:
1) the idiom is related to the verb buissonner, and metaphorically going on an adventure in the forest among shrubs and bushes instead of attending school.
2) according to Swiss philologist and lexicographer Walter von Wartburg, the idiom is related to Martin Luther and Lutheranism. In the 16th century, Lutheran priests struggled to preach the new religion in public. Thus, they started giving their teaching in the hinterland and in the woods (whence "buisson").
3) according to French linguist and lexicographer Alain Rey, the idiom comes from the following sentence attributed to Clément Marot: « Vray est qu'elle fust buissonnière, l'escole de ceux de Pavie ». This sentence refers to prelates who in 1423 refused to attend the council of Pavia because of the plague that hit the city.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fɛʁ l‿e.kɔl bɥi.sɔ.njɛʁ/
Verb
faire l’école buissonnière
- (somewhat dated) to play truant, to play hooky, to skip class, to ditch, to bunk, to mitch
- Synonyms: sécher, (Belgium) brosser, (Moselle) faire bleu, (Switzerland) schwänzer, (France) buissonner
Further reading
- "faire l'école buissonnière", Dictionnaire des francophones
- Dictionnaire des expressions et locutions, Alain Rey and Sophie Chantreau (page 448)