the game is afoot

Anglais

Étymologie

(1597) Citation de Henry IV, Part 1, acte I scène 3, de William Shakespeare : « Before the game's a-foot, thou still lett'st slip. »

Composé de the, game (« jeu »), is et afoot (« en cours »), littéralement « le jeu est commencé, la partie est en train de se jouer ».

Locution-phrase

the game is afoot \ðə ɡeɪm ɪz ʌfʊt\

1. Le processus est en marche ; il se passe quelque chose.
   • It was on a bitterly cold and frosty morning, towards the end of the winter of '97, that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder. It was Holmes. The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face, and told me at a glance that something was amiss. "Come, Watson, come!" he cried. "The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!" — (Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Abbey Grange, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, 1905)