he's never been out of his own backyard

trou [tʀu]

1. masculine noun

   a. hole

• par le trou de la serrure through the keyhole

• faire un trou to make a hole ; (avec des ciseaux, un couteau) to cut a hole ; (en usant, frottant) to wear a hole

• un 9/18 trous (Golf) a 9-hole/an 18-hole course

• il a fait un trou à son pantalon (usure) he has worn a hole in his trousers ; (brûlure, acide) he has burnt a hole in his trousers ; (déchirure) he has torn a hole in his trousers

• il n'a pas les yeux en face des trous he can't see straight

• faire son trou to make a niche for o.s.

• faire le trou (Sport) to open up a lead

   b. ( = moment de libre, lacune) gap ; ( = déficit) deficit

• un trou (de 10 millions) dans la comptabilité a deficit (of 10 million) in the accounts

• il y a des trous dans ma collection there are some gaps in my collection

• cela a fait un gros trou dans ses économies it made quite a hole in his savings

• le trou de la Sécurité sociale the deficit in the Social Security budget

• j'ai un trou demain dans la matinée, venez me voir I have a gap in my schedule tomorrow morning so come and see me

• j'ai un trou d'une heure I have an hour free

• j'ai eu un trou (de mémoire) my mind went blank

• texte à trous ( = exercice) cloze test

   c. (pejorative) ( = localité) hole (inf) (pej)

• il n'est jamais sorti de son trou he has never been out of his own backyard

• un trou perdu or paumé (inf) a godforsaken hole (inf)

   d. ( = prison) (inf) mettre/être au trou to put/be in the slammer (inf)

2. compounds

► trou d'aération airhole

► trou d'air air pocket

► trou de balle (vulg!) arsehole (vulg!) (Brit), asshole (vulg!) (US)

► trou de cigarette cigarette burn

► trou du cul (vulg!) arsehole (vulg!) (Brit), asshole (vulg!) (US)

► trou de nez (inf) nostril

► trou noir (Astronomy) black hole

► trou normand glass of spirits, drunk between courses of a meal

► trou de souris mousehole

► trou de ver wormhole

* * *

nom masculin

1) gén hole

2) ( lacune) gap

3) (colloq) ( déficit) deficit, shortfall

4) (colloq) ( petite localité)

5) (sl) ( prison) prison, nick (colloq)

•

- trou d'air

- trou de mémoire

- trou noir

- trou normand

- trou de serrure

- trou du souffleur

••

* * *

1) (= orifice, cavité) hole

2) fig (= absence, manque) gap

3) COMMERCE deficit

* * *

trou nm

1 ( cavité) hole; tomber dans un trou to fall into a hole; un trou de deux mètres de profondeur a hole two metres^GB deep; trou d'obus shell hole;

2 ( repaire) hole; se réfugier dans son trou [lapin, renard] to take refuge in its hole; faire son trou○ [personne] to carve out a niche for oneself;

3 ( perforation) (de passoire, ceinture, filet) hole; ( d'instrument à vent) finger hole; faire un trou dans qch to make a hole in sth; faire un trou à la perçeuse to drill a hole; le trou d'une aiguille the eye of a needle;

4 ( déchirure) hole; une chemise pleine de trous a shirt full of holes; avoir un trou à sa chaussette to have a hole in one's sock; le trou dans la couche d'ozone the hole in the ozone layer; se faire un trou dans la tête to gash one's head badly;

5 ( lacune) gap; j'ai un trou dans mon emploi du temps gén I have a gap in my timetable; Scol I have a free period;

6 ○( déficit) deficit, shortfall; un trou dans le budget a budget deficit, a shortfall in the budget; un trou de vingt millions a twenty million deficit;

7 ( argent détourné) il a laissé un trou de vingt millions when he left there was twenty million unaccounted for;

8 ○( petite localité): trou (perdu) dump○, god-forsaken place; il n'est jamais sorti de son trou he's never been out of his own backyard;

9 ◑( prison) prison, nick○; aller au trou to go to prison, to go to the nick○;

10 ◑( prison militaire) glasshouse○ GB, military prison; faire du trou to be in the glasshouse○ GB, to be in a military prison;

11 ◑( tombe) être dans le trou to be six feet under○; mettre qn dans le trou to bury sb.

trou d'aération airhole; trou d'air Aviat air pocket; trou de balle◑ arsehole● GB, asshole◑ US; trou borgne Mécan blind hole; trou de Botal Anat foramen ovale; trou du chat Naut lubber's hole; trou de cigarette cigarette burn; trou du cul● arsehole● GB, asshole◑ US; trou de flûte Mus finger hole; trou de graissage Mécan lubrication hole; trou d'homme Tech manhole; trou de mémoire lapse of memory; j'ai un trou (de mémoire) my mind has gone blank; trou de nez○ nostril; trou noir Astron black hole; trou normand glass of spirits between courses to aid digestion; trou occipital Anat foramen magnum; trou d'ozone ozone hole; trou de serrure keyhole; trou du souffleur Théât prompt box; trou de souris mousehole; trou de ver wormhole.

ne pas avoir les yeux en face des trous○ not to be able to see straight; faire le trou [coureur, cycliste] to open up a lead.

[tru] nom masculin

1. [cavité - généralement] hole ; [ - sur la route] pothole

a. ASTRONOMIE black hole

b. (figuré) depths of despair

2. [ouverture - dans une clôture, dans les nuages] hole, gap ; [ - d'une aiguille] eye ; [ - dans du cuir] eyelet

3. [déchirure] hole, tear, rip

4. [moment] gap

a. [élève] a free period

b. [dans la reconstitution d'un crime] a period of time during which one's movements cannot be accounted for

5. (familier) [endroit reculé] (little) place, hole (péjoratif), one-horse-town (humoristique)

6. (familier) [tombe] grave

7. (familier) [prison]

8. (familier) [déficit] deficit

9. ANATOMIE hole, foramen (terme spécialisé)

a. (familier) [il n'est pas observateur] he's pretty unobservant

b. [il est à moitié endormi] he's still half asleep

10. AÉRONAUTIQUE

11. [au golf] hole

to interfere in sth. that has no relation to one

X лезет не в своё дело - X sticks (pokes) his nose into person Y's (someone elsefe) business

Neg Imper не лезь (не суйся) не в своё дело - mind your own business

• ЛЕЗТЬ < СОВАТЬСЯ> НЕ В СВОЕ ДЕЛО coll, rather rude; ВМЕШИВАТЬСЯ НЕ В СВОЕ ДЕЛО

[VP; subj: human; often neg imper]

=====

⇒ to interfere in sth. that has no relation to one:

- X лезет не в своё дело≈ X sticks (pokes) his nose into person Y's (someone elsefe) business;

- X messes in (butts into) someone else's affairs;

- X interferes in other peopled business;

|| Neg Imper не лезь (не суйся) не в своё дело≈ mind your own business;

- keep out of this;

- keep out of what does not concern you;

- stay in your own backyard.

     ♦ "Если ты заблудилась, - всё звончей кричала Люда, чуя победу, - вместо монастыря попала в аспирантуру, - так сиди в углу и не будь свекровью. Надоело! Старая дева!" - "Людка! Не смей!" - закричала Оленька. "А чего она не в своё дело...?" (Солженицын 3). "If you got lost on the way," Lyuda shouted even louder, sensing victory, "and instead of landing in a nunnery you turned up here doing graduate work, all right then, sit there in your corner, but don't act like such a stepmother. It makes me sick. Old maid!" "Lyuda, don't you dare!" Olenka screamed. "Then what's she doing sticking her nose into everyone else's business?" (3a).

     ♦ [author's usage] Казангап, патриарх боранлинцев, притом очень тактичный, никогда не вмешивавшийся не в свои дела, пребывал ещё в полной силе и крепком здравии (Айтматов 2). At that time, Kazangap, as the patriarch of the people of Boranly, was always very tactful, never interfering in other people's business, and was still strong and in excellent health (2a).

     ♦ "Они [ женщины] ничего не посмеют сказать председателю, он им ответит: не лезьте не в своё дело" (Рыбаков 2). "They [the women] wouldn't dare say anything to the manager-he'd only tell them to mind their own business" (2a).

     ♦ Фигура приближается к машине. Это солдат. Он весь в снегу. Пола шинели оторвана. "Чем побило?" - спрашивает Карпов... "Пулями побило!" - говорю я. "Не суйтесь не в своё дело", - говорит Карпов (Окуджава 1). The figure comes up to the car. It's a soldier. He's covered in snow One side of his greatcoat has been ripped off. "What were they hit by?" asks Karpov.... "Hit by bullets," I say. "You keep out of this," says Karpov (1a).

• ЛЕЗТЬ < СОВАТЬСЯ> НЕ В СВОЕ ДЕЛО coll, rather rude; ВМЕШИВАТЬСЯ НЕ В СВОЕ ДЕЛО

[VP; subj: human; often neg imper]

=====

⇒ to interfere in sth. that has no relation to one:

- X лезет не в своё дело≈ X sticks (pokes) his nose into person Y's (someone elsefe) business;

- X messes in (butts into) someone else's affairs;

- X interferes in other peopled business;

|| Neg Imper не лезь (не суйся) не в своё дело≈ mind your own business;

- keep out of this;

- keep out of what does not concern you;

- stay in your own backyard.

     ♦ "Если ты заблудилась, - всё звончей кричала Люда, чуя победу, - вместо монастыря попала в аспирантуру, - так сиди в углу и не будь свекровью. Надоело! Старая дева!" - "Людка! Не смей!" - закричала Оленька. "А чего она не в своё дело...?" (Солженицын 3). "If you got lost on the way," Lyuda shouted even louder, sensing victory, "and instead of landing in a nunnery you turned up here doing graduate work, all right then, sit there in your corner, but don't act like such a stepmother. It makes me sick. Old maid!" "Lyuda, don't you dare!" Olenka screamed. "Then what's she doing sticking her nose into everyone else's business?" (3a).

     ♦ [author's usage] Казангап, патриарх боранлинцев, притом очень тактичный, никогда не вмешивавшийся не в свои дела, пребывал ещё в полной силе и крепком здравии (Айтматов 2). At that time, Kazangap, as the patriarch of the people of Boranly, was always very tactful, never interfering in other people's business, and was still strong and in excellent health (2a).

     ♦ "Они [ женщины] ничего не посмеют сказать председателю, он им ответит: не лезьте не в своё дело" (Рыбаков 2). "They [the women] wouldn't dare say anything to the manager-he'd only tell them to mind their own business" (2a).

     ♦ Фигура приближается к машине. Это солдат. Он весь в снегу. Пола шинели оторвана. "Чем побило?" - спрашивает Карпов... "Пулями побило!" - говорю я. "Не суйтесь не в своё дело", - говорит Карпов (Окуджава 1). The figure comes up to the car. It's a soldier. He's covered in snow One side of his greatcoat has been ripped off. "What were they hit by?" asks Karpov.... "Hit by bullets," I say. "You keep out of this," says Karpov (1a).

• ЛЕЗТЬ < СОВАТЬСЯ> НЕ В СВОЕ ДЕЛО coll, rather rude; ВМЕШИВАТЬСЯ НЕ В СВОЕ ДЕЛО

[VP; subj: human; often neg imper]

=====

⇒ to interfere in sth. that has no relation to one:

- X лезет не в своё дело≈ X sticks (pokes) his nose into person Y's (someone elsefe) business;

- X messes in (butts into) someone else's affairs;

- X interferes in other peopled business;

|| Neg Imper не лезь (не суйся) не в своё дело≈ mind your own business;

- keep out of this;

- keep out of what does not concern you;

- stay in your own backyard.

     ♦ "Если ты заблудилась, - всё звончей кричала Люда, чуя победу, - вместо монастыря попала в аспирантуру, - так сиди в углу и не будь свекровью. Надоело! Старая дева!" - "Людка! Не смей!" - закричала Оленька. "А чего она не в своё дело...?" (Солженицын 3). "If you got lost on the way," Lyuda shouted even louder, sensing victory, "and instead of landing in a nunnery you turned up here doing graduate work, all right then, sit there in your corner, but don't act like such a stepmother. It makes me sick. Old maid!" "Lyuda, don't you dare!" Olenka screamed. "Then what's she doing sticking her nose into everyone else's business?" (3a).

     ♦ [author's usage] Казангап, патриарх боранлинцев, притом очень тактичный, никогда не вмешивавшийся не в свои дела, пребывал ещё в полной силе и крепком здравии (Айтматов 2). At that time, Kazangap, as the patriarch of the people of Boranly, was always very tactful, never interfering in other people's business, and was still strong and in excellent health (2a).

     ♦ "Они [ женщины] ничего не посмеют сказать председателю, он им ответит: не лезьте не в своё дело" (Рыбаков 2). "They [the women] wouldn't dare say anything to the manager-he'd only tell them to mind their own business" (2a).

     ♦ Фигура приближается к машине. Это солдат. Он весь в снегу. Пола шинели оторвана. "Чем побило?" - спрашивает Карпов... "Пулями побило!" - говорю я. "Не суйтесь не в своё дело", - говорит Карпов (Окуджава 1). The figure comes up to the car. It's a soldier. He's covered in snow One side of his greatcoat has been ripped off. "What were they hit by?" asks Karpov.... "Hit by bullets," I say. "You keep out of this," says Karpov (1a).

SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology, Mining and extraction technology, Weapons and armour

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The son of a barber-surgeon who deserted his family to serve in the Swedish army, Nobel showed little interest in academic pursuits as a child and was sent to sea at the age of 16, but jumped ship in Egypt and was eventually employed as an architect by the pasha. Returning to Sweden, he won a scholarship to the Stockholm School of Architecture, where he studied from 1821 to 1825 and was awarded a number of prizes. His interest then leaned towards mechanical matters and he transferred to the Stockholm School of Engineering. Designs for linen-finishing machines won him a prize there, and he also patented a means of transforming rotary into reciprocating movement. He then entered the real-estate business and was successful until a fire in 1833 destroyed his house and everything he owned. By this time he had married and had two sons, with a third, Alfred (of Nobel Prize fame; see Alfred Nobel), on the way. Moving to more modest quarters on the outskirts of Stockholm, Immanuel resumed his inventions, concentrating largely on India rubber, which he applied to surgical instruments and military equipment, including a rubber knapsack.

It was talk of plans to construct a canal at Suez that first excited his interest in explosives. He saw them as a means of making mining more efficient and began to experiment in his backyard. However, this made him unpopular with his neighbours, and the city authorities ordered him to cease his investigations. By this time he was deeply in debt and in 1837 moved to Finland, leaving his family in Stockholm. He hoped to interest the Russians in land and sea mines and, after some four years, succeeded in obtaining financial backing from the Ministry of War, enabling him to set up a foundry and arms factory in St Petersburg and to bring his family over. By 1850 he was clear of debt in Sweden and had begun to acquire a high reputation as an inventor and industrialist. His invention of the horned contact mine was to be the basic pattern of the sea mine for almost the next 100 years, but he also created and manufactured a central-heating system based on hot-water pipes. His three sons, Ludwig, Robert and Alfred, had now joined him in his business, but even so the outbreak of war with Britain and France in the Crimea placed severe pressures on him. The Russians looked to him to convert their navy from sail to steam, even though he had no experience in naval propulsion, but the aftermath of the Crimean War brought financial ruin once more to Immanuel. Amongst the reforms brought in by Tsar Alexander II was a reliance on imports to equip the armed forces, so all domestic arms contracts were abruptly cancelled, including those being undertaken by Nobel. Unable to raise money from the banks, Immanuel was forced to declare himself bankrupt and leave Russia for his native Sweden. Nobel then reverted to his study of explosives, particularly of how to adapt the then highly unstable nitroglycerine, which had first been developed by Ascanio Sobrero in 1847, for blasting and mining. Nobel believed that this could be done by mixing it with gunpowder, but could not establish the right proportions. His son Alfred pursued the matter semi-independently and eventually evolved the principle of the primary charge (and through it created the blasting cap), having taken out a patent for a nitroglycerine product in his own name; the eventual result of this was called dynamite. Father and son eventually fell out over Alfred's independent line, but worse was to follow. In September 1864 Immanuel's youngest son, Oscar, then studying chemistry at Uppsala University, was killed in an explosion in Alfred's laboratory: Immanuel suffered a stroke, but this only temporarily incapacitated him, and he continued to put forward new ideas. These included making timber a more flexible material through gluing crossed veneers under pressure and bending waste timber under steam, a concept which eventually came to fruition in the form of plywood.

In 1868 Immanuel and Alfred were jointly awarded the prestigious Letterstedt Prize for their work on explosives, but Alfred never for-gave his father for retaining the medal without offering it to him.

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