mauvais quart d'heure

British  

/ movɛ kar dœr /

noun

1. a brief unpleasant experience

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Etymology

Origin of mauvais quart d'heure

literally: (a) bad quarter of an hour

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mauvais quart d'heure

If a modern warship meant business, the bellicose gunners of this little inkpot-looking fort would have what the French call a mauvais quart d'heure.

From Jethou or Crusoe Life in the Channel Isles by Ernest R. (Ernest Richard) Suffling

There had been no mauvais quart d'heure in Pauline's evenings; her cousin had loyally saved her from even the momentary chagrin of being left without a courtier.

From The Adventures of a Widow A Novel by Edgar Fawcett

But whenever there's a sort of gap to be filled up, a mauvais quart d'heure after luncheon, the hero runs off and deals with a mouse.

From Mufti by H. C. (Herman Cyril) McNeile

For Eglah, the clock of fate had begun to chime that mauvais quart d'heure which Mrs. Maurice had known would inevitably overtake her, and the preliminary whirring of the hidden cogs had found her unprepared.

From A Speckled Bird by Augusta J. Evans Wilson

During the mauvais quart d'heure before the meal, Charteris kept up an animated conversation with the Oldest Inhabitant, the Babe joining in from time to time when he could think of anything to say.

From Tales of St. Austin's by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse

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