hors des clous

French

Alternative forms

Etymology

The limits of crosswalks used to be marked with very large-headed nails (passage clouté).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɔʁ de klu/

Prepositional phrase

hors des clous

  1. (literally) out of the limits of the crosswalk, outside of a designated crossing
    traverser hors des clous ― to jaywalk
  2. (figuratively) out of the box; off the books (not abiding by the rules)
    Antonym: dans les clous

See also

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.