vache

I.

n. f.

1. (pej.): 'Copper', policeman. Les vaches: 'The fuzz'. (This seemingly injurious appellation, as well as the expression Mort aux vaches!, has nothing to do with the bovine species. Mort aux vaches! is said to have originated after 1870 in occupied AlsaceLorraine where the German military police force, die Wache (the watch), focused discontent among the occupied, and the jeer was originally Mort à la Wache!)

2. (also: peau de vache): 'Pig of a character', very awkward so-and-so.

3. Coup de pied en vache (fig.): Dirty trick, sly and malicious act.

4. Vache à lait: 'Sucker', wealthy dupe, the kind of rich gullible fool who keeps cadgers and hangers-on in food and money.

5. Vache laitière (pej.): 'Big fat biddy' (the kind of 'silly moo' whose ample mammaries are her dominant feature).

6. Etre plein comme une vache: To be 'pissed to the eye-balls', to be rolling drunk.

7. Il pleut comme vache qui pisse! It's raining cats and dogs!

8. Bouffer de la vache enragée: To have to rough it, to go through a tough period in life. (The image here is of the impoverished individual whose meat rations, when he can afford them, are of the 'shoe-leather' variety.)

9. Oh, la vache! Damn and blast! — Drat! (This exclamation and its English equivalents are equally innocuous and dated.)

10. Vache de¼! This colloquial intensifier can either be damning as in Quel vache de temps! What bloody (awful) weather! or loaded with admiration as in C'est un vache de mec! He's one hell of a guy!

11. La croix des vaches: Punishment inflicted by old-time pimps on recalcitrant prostitutes or by members of the underworld on a traitor. These deep facial cuts in the shape of a cross made with a razor blade, were encouraged to fester and leave a scar by the application of a chemical.

II.

adj.

1. (of person): Weak, all limp. Je me sens tout vache aujourd'hui! I'm really feeling weak at the knees today!

2. (of person): 'Beastly', 'mean', nasty. Son père est drôlement vache avec lui, côté discipline! His father's a right Colonel Blimp! Sois pas vache, prête-moi des sous! Come on, be a pal, lend us some money! Tu es vraiment vache, ces temps-ci! You're a right swine these days!

3. (of problem, poser): 'Stinking difficult', awkward and loaded with (intentional) snags. Ses questions d'examen sont toujours vaches! The papers he sets are right stinkers!

4. Un vache¼, une vache ¼: An incredible¼(When the adjective precedes the noun, it acts as an intensifier nearly always with a positive connotation. Une vache nana: A smashing bird. Il m'est arrivé une vache histoire! You won't believe what happened to me!)

5. Amour vache: Tempestuous sort of love affair (the kind where the partners seem to be exchanging as many blows as kisses).