Être à fond de cale (fam.) = To be hard up, at the end of one’s resources.
[Also more pop.: battre la dèche. See [Sec] and [Argent].]
Campagne
En rase (or, pleine) campagne = In the open country.
Battre la campagne. (See [Battre].)
Se mettre en campagne = (lit., of a general) To take the field; (fig.) To canvass or look out for a post; To start working.
Camus
Rendre un homme camus = To stop a man’s mouth; To make a man look small.
Il demeura tout camus = He had not a word to say for himself; He was “stumped.”