monstre sacré

From French monstre sacré.

monstre sacré (plural monstres sacrés)

1. A striking, unusual public figure; an eccentric celebrity.
   • 1994, Patrick O'Brian, Picasso: A Biography, p. 372:

     Picasso changed, or was changed, from a capital painter, known as such a painter should be known, into a monstre sacré, a holy cow surrounded with an enormous, self-perpetuating, inescapable, and generally irrelevant notoriety.

   • 2002, Jann Parry, The Observer, 27 January:

     Ken Russell's BBC film (with Vivian Pickles) and Kenneth MacMillan's Isadora ballet portrayed her as a grotesque monstre sacre.

monstre sacré m (plural monstres sacrés)

1. (figuratively) giant
   • 2015, Le Monde, "E3 : « Doom », les limites de la surenchère gore", 15 June:

     Un monstre sacré de l’histoire du jeu vidéo s’apprête à faire son retour, au printemps 2016, et on a presque eu envie d’en savoir plus.

     A giant of video gaming history is about to make its return, in spring 2016, and we're nearly ready to know more about it.