ставить все точки над и

• СТАВИТЬ/ПОСТАВИТЬ ТИЧКИ <BCE ТОЧКИ, ТОЧКУ> НАД <НА obs> И <"И", "I">

[VP; subj: human]

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⇒ to clarify some matter fully and in all its details, leaving no ambiguities:

- X поставил точки над и{{}}≈ X dotted the tfs and crossed the tfs.

     ♦ Верно, и чирьи замучили [Михаила], и обещание с его [Першина] стороны насчет замены было, а все-таки факт остаётся фактом: самовольно, без разрешения ушёл со сплава, а ежели все ставить точки над "и", то и так сказать можно: дезертировал (Абрамов 1). It was true his [Mikhail's] boils had been plaguing him and that Pershin had made a promise to get him replaced, but facts were facts: absent without leave. He had left the timber floating without permission. To dot the i's and cross the t's, you could indeed say that he had deserted (1a).

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← (?) Translation of the French mettre les points sur les

1. The letter "i" existed in the Russian alphabet prior to the orthography reform of 1917.