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

Example Sentences

So he and the famous goat were mutually spared many a mauvais quart d'heure.

From Darkness and Dawn by England, George Allan

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 Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)

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 Wilson, Augusta J. Evans

Those fifteen minutes had none the less proved a mauvais quart d'heure for Mr. Kelly.

From Parson Kelly by Lang, Andrew

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 Suffling, Ernest R. (Ernest Richard)