Another batch of expressions from the C1/2 Textbook I’m using
Passar pelas brasas (pass through the coals) =have a little sleep
Dar barraca (give a shed) = provoke a scandal
Surdo como uma porta (deaf as a door) =deaf as a post
É outra loiça (It’s different crockery) =much better (food)
Estar em maus lençóis (be on bad sheets) = be in a sticky situation
Falar de poleiro (speak from a perch) = Speak arrogantly, get on your high horse
Ser um bom garfo (be a good fork) = be a lover of good food
Sem eira nem beira (without a floor or a roof*) = very poor
Estúpido como uma porta (stupid as a door) =daft as a brush
Atirar o barro à parede (throw the clay at the wall) = test the waters to see if someone might be receptive to your idea
De cortar à faca (you could cut it with a knife) =same as the English expression – when the atmosphere is so tense or oppressive that you feel like you could cut it with a knife
Cascos de rolha (corked casks) = a long way off.
De fio a pavio (from string to wick) =from beginning to end. (I think we’re supposed to think of a candle burning all the way down)
Entrar em parafuso (go into a screw) = go into a tailspin, panic
*=There was a bit of debate over this one. Eira is a kind of floor or patch of ground in a village, where harvested grain is threshed and sieved ready for storage. Beira is a word we usually hear when talking about the seaside (“beira mar”) but it can be the eaves of a roof. The phrase is sometimes expanded to “Sem eira nem beira nem ramo de figueira”, adding that the poor bugger doesn’t even have the branch of a fig tree.
Luso 