near Paris

near [nɪə(r)]

près de ⇒ 1 (a)-(c), 1 (e), 6 (a), 6 (c)-(e) proche de ⇒ 1 (b), 6 (b), 6 (c) au bord de ⇒ 1 (e) près ⇒ 2 (a), 2 (b) proche ⇒ 2 (b), 3 (a), 3 (b), 3 (e) quasi ⇒ 2 (c) approcher de ⇒ 4 approcher ⇒ 5

(compar nearer, superl nearest)

1 preposition

(a) (in space) près de;

∎ near Paris près de Paris;

∎ don't go near the fire ne t'approche pas du feu;

∎ is there a chemist's near here? est-ce qu'il y a un pharmacien près d'ici ou dans le coin?;

∎ she likes to have her family near her elle aime avoir sa famille près d'elle ou auprès d'elle;

∎ near the end of the book vers la fin du livre;

∎ I haven't been near a horse since the accident je n'ai pas approché un cheval depuis l'accident;

∎ you can't trust him near a gun il est dangereux avec une arme à feu;

∎ she wouldn't let anyone near her (physically) elle ne voulait pas qu'on l'approche; (emotionally) elle ne voulait être proche de personne

(b) (in time) près de, proche de;

∎ it's getting near Christmas c'est bientôt Noël;

∎ ask me nearer the time repose-moi la question quand l'heure viendra;

∎ near the end of the film vers la fin du film

(c) (similar to) près de;

∎ that would be nearer the truth ce serait plus près de la vérité;

∎ nobody can come anywhere near her il n'y a personne à son niveau;

∎ he's nowhere near it! (with guess, calculation) il n'y est pas du tout!

(d) (in amount or number)

∎ profits were near the 30 percent mark les bénéfices approchaient la barre des 30 pour cent;

∎ it took us nearer three hours to finish en fait, nous avons mis presque trois heures à finir;

∎ it will cost nearer £5,000 ça coûtera plutôt dans les 5000 livres

(e) (on the point of) près de, au bord de;

∎ the country's economy is near ruin le pays est au bord de la faillite;

∎ to be near tears être au bord des larmes;

∎ near death sur le point de mourir;

∎ it's near freezing il ne fait pas loin de zéro, la température avoisine zéro degré

2 adverb

(a) (in space) près, à côté, à proximité;

∎ to draw near s'approcher;

∎ come nearer venez plus près, approchez-vous;

∎ to bring sth nearer (to) rapprocher qch (de);

∎ the heat was too great for us to get near la chaleur était trop intense pour que l'on puisse s'approcher;

∎ so near and yet so far! c'est dommage, si près du but!;

∎ near at hand tout près, à proximité

(b) (in time) proche, près;

∎ as the time grew or drew near à mesure que le moment approchait;

∎ midnight drew near minuit approchait, on approchait de minuit

(c) (with adjective) quasi;

∎ a near impossible task une tâche quasi ou quasiment ou pratiquement impossible;

∎ the show went ahead with near tragic consequences le spectacle a continué avec des conséquences quasi tragiques

(d) (idioms)

∎ as near as makes no difference à peu de chose près, à quelque chose près;

∎ familiar £50 or as near as dammit 50 livres à peu de chose près^□ ;

∎ as near as I can remember autant que je puisse m'en souvenir;

∎ it's near enough ça va comme ça;

∎ it's near enough 50 lbs ça pèse dans les 50 livres;

∎ it's nowhere near good enough c'est loin d'être suffisant;

∎ she's nowhere near finished elle est loin d'avoir fini;

∎ there weren't anywhere near enough people il y avait bien trop peu de gens

3 adjective

(a) (in space) proche;

∎ the near edge le bord le plus proche;

∎ our near neighbours nos proches voisins;

∎ I knew you were near je savais que vous étiez dans les environs ou parages;

∎ the nearest post office le bureau de poste le plus proche;

∎ the near front wheel (driving on left) la roue avant gauche; (driving on right) la roue avant droite

(b) (in time) proche;

∎ when the time is near quand le moment approchera;

∎ in the near future dans un proche avenir

(c) (virtual)

∎ it was a near disaster on a frôlé la catastrophe;

∎ he found himself in near darkness il s'est retrouvé dans une obscurité quasi totale;

∎ it was a near thing on l'a échappé belle, il était moins une;

∎ I caught the train, but it was a near thing j'ai eu mon train de justesse;

∎ I missed the train, but it was a near thing j'ai manqué mon train de peu;

∎ he's the nearest thing we have to a national hero il est ce que nous avons de mieux en matière de héros national;

∎ it's the nearest you'll get to a bookshop in these parts c'est ce que vous trouverez de mieux en matière de librairie par ici

(d) (in amount, number)

∎ to the nearest £10 à 10 livres près;

∎ round it up/down to the nearest 10 francs arrondissez aux 10 francs supérieurs/inférieurs

(e) (closely related) proche;

∎ her nearest relatives ses parents les plus proches;

∎ humorous your nearest and dearest vos proches

4 transitive verb

(approach → place, date, event) approcher de; (→ state) être au bord de;

∎ the train was nearing the station le train approchait de la gare;

∎ he was nearing seventy when he got married il allait sur ses soixante-dix ans quand il s'est marié;

∎ the book is nearing completion le livre est sur le point d'être terminé;

∎ we are nearing our goal nous touchons au but;

∎ he seemed to be nearing a crisis il semblait au bord d'une crise;

∎ we're nearing the point of no return il sera bientôt trop tard pour faire marche arrière, on atteindra bientôt le point de non-retour

5 intransitive verb

(date, place) approcher

6 near to preposition

(a) (in space) près de;

∎ they live near to us ils habitent près de ou à côté de chez nous

(b) (emotionally) proche de;

∎ those near and dear to him ceux qui le touchent de près, ses proches

(c) (in time) près de, proche de;

∎ it's getting near to Christmas Noël approche

(d) (in similarity) près de

(e) (on the point of) près de, au bord de;

∎ to be near to death être sur le point de mourir;

∎ to be near to tears être au bord des larmes;

∎ I came near to leaving several times j'ai failli partir plusieurs fois

►► American near beer bière f sans alcool;

the Near East le Proche-Orient;

∎ in the Near East au Proche-Orient;

near gale (on Beaufort scale) grand frais m;

Computing near letter quality qualité f courrier;

near letter quality printer imprimante f de qualité courrier;

near miss (gen) & Sport coup m qui a raté de peu; (between planes, vehicles etc) collision f évitée de justesse;

∎ it was a near miss (answer) la réponse était presque bonne; (accident) on a frôlé l'accident;

∎ that was a near miss! (escape) on l'a échappé belle!;

∎ the two cars had a near miss les deux voitures ont bien failli se rentrer dedans;

near money quasi-monnaie f;

Stock Exchange near month échéance f proche

SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace

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Charles Renard was a French army officer with an interest in aviation. In 1873 he constructed an unusual unmanned glider with ten wings and an automatic stabilizing device to control rolling. This operated by means of a pendulum device linked to moving control surfaces. The model was launched from a tower near Arras, but unfortunately it spiralled into the ground. The control surfaces could not cope with the basic instability of the design, but as an idea for automatic flight control it was ahead of its time.

Following a Commission report on the military use of balloons, carrier pigeons and an optical telegraph, an aeronautical establishment was set up in 1877 at Chalais-Meudon, near Paris, under the direction of Charles Renard, who was assisted by his brother Paul. The following year Renard and a colleague, Arthur Krebs, began to plan an airship. They received financial help from Léon Gambetta, a prominent politician who had escaped from Paris by balloon in 1870 during the siege by the Prussians. Renard and Krebs studied earlier airship designs: they used the outside shape of Paul Haenlein's gas-engined airship of 1872 and included Meusnier's internal air-filled ballonnets. The gas-engine had not been a success so they decided on an electric motor. Renard developed lightweight pile batteries while Krebs designed a motor, although this was later replaced by a more powerful Gramme motor of 6.5 kW (9 hp). La France was constructed at Chalais-Meudon and, after a two-month wait for calm conditions, the airship finally ascended on 9 August 1884. The motor was switched on and the flight began. Renard and Krebs found their airship handled well and after twenty-three minutes they landed back at their base. La, France made several successful flights, but its speed of only 24 km/h (15 mph) meant that flights could be made only in calm weather. Parts of La, France, including the electric motor, are preserved in the Musée de l'Air in Paris.

Renard remained in charge of the establishment at Chalais-Meudon until his death. Among other things, he developed the "Train Renard", a train of articulated road vehicles for military and civil use, of which a number were built between 1903 and 1911. Towards the end of his life Renard became interested in helicopters, and in 1904 he built a large twin-rotor model which, however, failed to take off.

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(v.) = incite + violence

Ex. France has expelled a Muslim preacher for making public speeches in a mosque near Paris inciting violence against the West.

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anywhere [ˈenɪwεə^r]

   a. ( = no matter where) n'importe où

• I'd live anywhere in France je vivrais n'importe où en France

• put it down anywhere pose-le n'importe où

• you can find those watches anywhere on trouve ces montres partout

• go anywhere you like va où tu veux

• anywhere else partout ailleurs

• miles from anywhere (inf) loin de tout

   b. (in negative sentences) nulle part

• they didn't go anywhere ils ne sont allés nulle part

• we haven't been anywhere this summer nous ne sommes allés nulle part cet été

• this species is not to be found anywhere else on ne trouve cette espèce nulle part ailleurs

• we're not going anywhere in particular nous n'allons nulle part en particulier

• we aren't anywhere near Paris nous sommes loin de Paris

• the house isn't anywhere near big enough (inf) la maison est loin d'être assez grande

• we're not getting anywhere cela ne nous mène à rien

   c. (in questions) quelque part

• have you seen it anywhere? l'avez-vous vu quelque part ?

• anywhere else? ailleurs ?

• are you going anywhere nice this summer? tu pars quelque part cet été ?

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1) (with negative, implied negative)

2) (in questions, conditional sentences) quelque part

3) ( no matter where)

SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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Mansart was a classical architect who designed in High Renaissance style in France. Chief architect to Louis XIII, he was responsible for a number of fine châteaux and hôtels such as the Château de Maisons (1642–51) near Paris and the Hôtel Carnavalet (1660) in Paris. He was also the architect of the magnificent Paris church of Val de Grâce (begun in 1645).

The mansard roof, which has two different slopes of pitch, one steeper than the other, was named after Mansart (with a small change of spelling for euphony). It was a type of roof that was very popular in France from the early seventeenth century onwards and was revived under Napoleon III in the nineteenth century. However, although Mansart popularized this style of roof, he did not invent it; indeed, it was used in earlier works by both Pierre Lescot and Jacques Lemercier.

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Centre national des industries et des techniques exhibition centre in Paris

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CNIT nm (abbr = Centre national des industries et des techniques) exhibition and conference centre in Paris.

nom propre masculin,

Cnit nom propre masculin [knit] (abréviation de Centre national des industries et des techniques)

trade centre at la Défense near Paris

SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics

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As a young man Georges Demenÿ was a pioneer of physical education in France, and this led him to contact the physiologist Professor Marey in 1880. Marey had made a special study of animal movement, and Demenÿ hoped to work with him on research into physiological problems related to gymnastics. He joined Marey the following year, and when in 1882 the Physiological Station was set up near Paris to develop sequence photography for the study of movement. Demenÿ was made Head of the laboratory. He worked with the multiple-image fixed-plate cameras, and was chiefly responsible for the analysis of the records, having considerable mathematical and graphical ability. He also appeared as the subject in a number of the sequences. When in 1888 Marey began the development of a film camera, Demenÿ was involved in its design and operation. He became interested in the possibility of using animated sequence photographs as an aid to teaching of the deaf. He made close-up records of himself speaking short phrases, "Je vous aime" and "Vive la France" for example, which were published in such journals as Paris Photographe and La Nature in 1891 and 1892. To present these in motion, he devised the Phonoscope, which he patented on 3 March 1892. The series of photographs were mounted around the circumference of a disc and viewed through a counter-rotating slotted disc. The moving images could be viewed directly, or projected onto a screen. La Nature reported tests he had made in which deaf lip readers could interpret accurately what was being said. On 20 December 1892 Demenÿ formed a company, Société Générale du Phonoscope, to exploit his invention, hoping that "speaking portraits" might replace family-album pictures. This commercial activity led to a rift between Marey and Demenÿ in July 1893. Deprived of access to the film cameras, Demenÿ developed designs of his own, patenting new camera models in France on 10 October 1893 and 27 July 1894. The design covered by the latter had been included in English and German patents filed in December 1893, and was to be of some significance in the early development of cinematography. It was for an intermittent movement of the film, which used an eccentrically mounted blade or roller that, as it rotated, bore on the film, pulling down the length of one frame. As the blade moved away, the film loop so formed was taken up by the rotation of the take-up reel. This "beater" movement was employed extensively in the early years of cinematography, being effective yet inexpensive. It was first employed in the Chronophotographe apparatus marketed by Gaumont, to whom Demenÿ had licensed the patent rights, from the autumn of 1896. Demenÿ's work provided a link between the scientific purposes of sequence photography— chronophotography—and the introduction of commercial cinematography.

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art [aʀ]

1. masculine noun

   a. ( = esthétique, technique) art

• l'art pour l'art art for art's sake

• livre/critique d'art art book/critic

• un homme de l'art a man in the profession

• le septième art cinema

• le huitième art television

• le neuvième art comic strips

   b. ( = adresse) skill

• c'est tout un art it's quite an art

• il a l'art et la manière he knows what he's doing and he does it in style

• il a l'art de dire des bêtises he has a talent for talking nonsense

2. compounds

► art déco Art Deco

► l'art dramatique drama

► art nouveau Art Nouveau

► arts appliqués decorative arts

► arts décoratifs decorative arts

► arts graphiques graphic arts

► arts martiaux martial arts

► les Arts ménagers (salon) ≈ the Ideal Home Exhibition

► les Arts et Métiers higher education institute for industrial art and design

► les arts plastiques the visual arts

► les arts de la rue street performance

► art de vivre way of life

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nom masculin

1) (création, œuvres) art

2) ( savoir-faire) art; ( habileté) skill

3) ( don) knack ( de faire of doing)

arts nom masculin pluriel arts

- art déco

- art dramatique

- art floral

- art de la guerre

- art lyrique

- art nouveau

- art oratoire

- art de la table

- art de vivre

- arts appliqués

- arts décoratifs

- arts ménagers

- arts plastiques

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1. nm

1) (= activité) art

2) (capacité, talent)

2. arts nmpl

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art

A nm

1 (création, œuvres) art; l'art abstrait/chinois/nègre abstract/Chinese/Negro art; l'art du Moyen-Âge the art of the Middle Ages; l'art pour l'art art for art's sake; d'art [amateur, livre, galerie] art ( épith); ⇒ grand;

2 ( savoir-faire) art; ( habileté) skill; c'est tout un art de créer un parfum creating a perfume is an art in itself; c'est du grand art it's a real art; il nous a enseigné l'art du mime/du trucage/de faire des sauces he taught us the art of mime/of special effects/of sauce-making; l'art de l'écrivain/du jardinier the writer's/gardener's art; ils ont un art consommé du compromis they have perfected the art of compromise; avoir l'art et la manière to have the skill and the style (de faire qch to do sth); avec art ( artistement) artistically; ( habilement) skilfully^GB; elle joue/s'exprime avec un art consommé de la nuance she plays/expresses herself with a fine command of nuance;

3 ( don) knack; elle a l'art de convaincre/de plaire she has the knack of convincing/of pleasing people; il a l'art de parler pour ne rien dire he's very good at talking without saying anything.

B arts nmpl arts; ⇒ école.

art contemporain contemporary art; art déco art deco; un meuble art déco a piece of art deco furniture; art dramatique drama; art floral flower arranging; art de la guerre art of war; art lyrique opera; art martial martial art; art nouveau art nouveau; un vase art nouveau an art nouveau vase; art oratoire public speaking; art poétique (versification, ouvrage) art of poetry; art de la table art of entertaining; art de vivre art of living; être célibataire c'est plus que vivre seul, c'est un art de vivre there's more to being a bachelor than living on your own, it's an art; arts appliqués applied arts; arts décoratifs decorative arts; arts graphiques graphic arts; arts libéraux liberal arts; arts mécaniques mechanical arts; arts ménagers home economics; le Salon des Arts Ménagers ≈ the Ideal Home Exhibition GB, the Home Show US; arts plastiques plastic arts.

[ar] nom masculin

1. ART art

2. [technique] art

a. [classe] drama class

b. [école] drama school

3. [don] art, talent

je voulais juste le prévenir! — oui, mais il y a l'art et la manière I didn't want to offend him, just to warn him! — yes, but there are ways of going about it

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arts nom masculin pluriel

somewhere [ˈsʌmwεə^r]

• somewhere or other quelque part

• somewhere in France quelque part en France

• somewhere near Paris quelque part près de Paris

• somewhere else ailleurs

• let's go somewhere cheap (restaurant) allons dans un endroit pas cher

• have you got somewhere to stay? avez-vous un endroit où loger ?

• now we're getting somewhere! enfin on avance !

• somewhere around 10 million people environ 10 millions de personnes

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1) ( some place) quelque part

2) ( at an unspecified point in range)

••

SUBJECT AREA: Agricultural and food technology

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As the son of an inn keeper, Nicolas Appert would have learned about pickling and brewing, but he chose to become a chef and confectioner, establishing himself in the rue des Lombards in Paris in 1780. He prospered there until about 1795, and in that year he began experimenting in ways to preserve foodstuffs, succeeding with soups, vegetables, juices, dairy products, jellies, jams and syrups. His method was to place food in glass jars, seal the jars with cork and sealing wax, then sterilize them by immersion in boiling water for a predetermined time.

In 1810 the French Government offered a 12,000 franc award to anyone succeeding in preserving high-quality foodstuffs for its army and navy. Appert won the award and in 1812 used the money to open the world's first food-bottling factory, La Maison Appert, in the town of Massey, near Paris. He established agents in all the major sea ports, recognizing the marine market as his most likely customer, and supplied products to Napoleon's troops in the field. By 1820 Appert's method was in use all over the United States, in spite of the simultaneous development of other containers of tin or other metals by an English merchant, Peter Durand, and the production of canned food products by the Bermondsey firm of Donkin \& Hall, London. The latter had opened the first canning factory in England in 1811.

Initially Appert used glass jars and bottles, but in 1822 he changed to tin-plated metal cans. To heat the cans he used an autoclave, which heated the water to a temperature higher than its boiling point. A hammer and chisel were needed to open cans until the invention of a can opener by an Englishman named Yates in 1855. Despite Appert's successes, he received little financial reward and died in poverty; he was buried in a common grave.

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SUBJECT AREA: Canals

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Ferdinand de Lesseps was born into a family in the diplomatic service and it was intended that his should be his career also. He was educated at the Lycée Napoléon in Paris. In 1825, aged 20, he was appointed an attaché to the French consulate in Lisbon. In 1828 he went to the Consulate-General in Tunis and in 1831 was posted from there to Egypt, becoming French Consul in Cairo two years later. For his work there during the plague in 1836 he was awarded the Croix de Chevalier in the Légion d'honneur. During this time he became very friendly with Said Mohammed and the friendship was maintained over the years, although there were no expectations then that Said would occupy any great position of authority.

De Lesseps then served in other countries. In 1841 he had thought about a canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, and he brooded over the idea until 1854. In October of that year, having retired from the diplomatic service, he returned to Egypt privately. His friend Said became Viceroy and he readily agreed to the proposal to cut the canal. At first there was great international opposition to the idea, and in 1855 de Lesseps travelled to England to try to raise capital. Work finally started in 1859, but there were further delays following the death of Said Pasha in 1863. The work was completed in 1869 and the canal was formally opened by the Empress Eugenic on 20 November 1869. De Lesseps was fêted in France and awarded the Grand Croix de la Légion d'honneur.

He subsequently promoted the project of the Corinth Canal, but his great ambition in his later years was to construct a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. This idea had been conceived by Spanish adventurers in 1514, but everyone felt the problems and cost would be too great. De Lesseps, riding high in popularity and with his charismatic character, convinced the public of the scheme's feasibility and was able to raise vast sums for the enterprise. He proposed a sea-level canal, which required the excavation of a 350 ft (107 m) cut through terrain; this eventually proved impossible, but work nevertheless started in 1881.

In 1882 de Lesseps became first President d'-Honneur of the Syndicat des Entrepreneurs de Travaux Publics de France and was elected to the Chair of the French Academy in 1884. By 1891 the Panama Canal was in a disastrous financial crisis: a new company was formed, and because of the vast sums expended a financial investigation was made. The report led to de Lesseps, his son and several high-ranking government ministers and officials being charged with bribery and corruption, but de Lesseps was a very sick man and never appeared at the trial. He was never convicted, although others were, and he died soon after, at the age of 89, at his home.

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n. Eurodisney, American-style amusement park located in Europe (near Paris, France)

[flɶrimerɔʒis] nom propre

town near Paris well-known for its prison

large office block at la Défense near Paris, shaped like a square archway

arche [aʀ∫]

   a. ( = voûte) arch

   b. l'arche de Noé Noah's Ark

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nom féminin Architecture arch

- arche d'alliance

- arche de Noé

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arche nf

1 Archit arch;

2 Relig Ark; arche d'alliance Ark of the Covenant; arche de Noé Noah's Ark.

[arʃ] nom féminin

1. ARCHITECTURE arch

2. RELIGION ark

polytechnique [pɔlitεknik]

1. adjective

• l'École polytechnique the École polytechnique

2. feminine noun

Polytechnique the École polytechnique

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The Polytechnique, also known as « l'X », is one of the most prestigious engineering schools in France. Admission to the school is via a competitive examination, taken by students who have done two years' preparatory study. → GRANDES ÉCOLES

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nom féminin: Grande École of Science and Technology

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polytechnique adj polytechnic.

[pɔlitɛknik] adjectif

1. [polyvalent] polytechnic

2. ÉDUCATION polytechnic

Founded in 1794, this prestigious engineering college has close connections with the Ministry of Defence. Formerly situated in the heart of the fifth arrondissement, the college moved to Palaiseau, near Paris, in the 1970s. It is popularly known as l'X. Students are effectively enlisted in the army and must repay their education through government service.

Proper name (abbr. Maisons-Alfort) Il fait ses études à Alfort: He is studying to be a vet. (One of the principal veterinary surgeon train ing schools is at Maisons-Alfort near Paris.)

Proper name. (corr. asile de Bicêtre): This old people's home for the destitute near Paris was formerly a hospital and a prison.

n. f. (abbr. valse chaloupée): Waltzlike dance popular with the clientele of guinguettes near Paris.

   Franco-British supersonic aircraft, in service from 1976 to 2003: the world's only supersonic commercial airliner. Concorde had a distinguished career, until this was brought to a stop following a fatal accident in the year 2000, at Gonesse, near Paris. All Concordes were withdrawn from service (by BA and Air France) following this disaster, and though the plane later took to the air again, commercial operations were stopped in 2003, following further fears about the plane's safety. Concorde was a magnificent product of the brave new world of 1960's optimism, designed at a time when environmental considerations and fuel economy were just not issues. Its extravagent operating costs meant that it was never really profitable except on the London-New York route, and was never bought by any airlines other than the British and French national flag carriers. It was nonetheless a magnificent symbol of prestige, used by Presidents and other VIPs, as well as a fantastic technological achievement. This technological prowess seems even more significant, when one remembers that Concorde was designed and built at a time when computer operated systems were in their infancy.