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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



362 words match “FRENCH”

DEPUTY n.
of the Chamber of Deputies. [France] Chamber of Deputies, one of the two branches of the French legilative assembly; -- formerly called Corps Législatif. Its members, called deputies, are elected by the people voting in districts.
DESCENT n.
enemy. The United Provinces . . . ordered public prayer to God, when they feared that the French and English fleets would make a descent upon their coasts. Jortin.
DEY n.
The governor of Algiers; -- so called before the French conquest in 1830.
DIAPASON n.
A standard of pitch; a tuning fork; as, the French normal diapason.
DIRECTOIRE STYLE n.
A style of dress prevalent at the time of the French Directory, characterized by great extravagance of design and imitating the Greek and Roman costumes.
DOUANIER n.
An officer of the French customs. [Anglicized form douaneer.]
DOWN adv.
ancholy object in the learned world than a man who has written himself down. Addison. The French . . . shone down [i. e., outshone] the English. Shak.
DOYEN n.
Lit., a dean; the senior member of a body or group; as, the doyen of French physicians. "This doyen of newspapers." A. R. Colquhoun.
DRAGONNADE n.
The severe persecution of French Protestants under Louis XIV., by an armed force, usually of dragoons; hence, a rapid and devastating incursion; dragoonade. He learnt it as he watched the dragonnades, the tortures, the massacres of the Netherlands. C. Kingsley.
EAU DE VIE n.
French name for brandy. Cf. Aqua vitæ, under Aqua. Bescherelle.
EBULLIENT a.
ing; effervescing. "Ebullient with subtlety." De Quincey. The ebullient enthusiasm of the French. Carlyle.
EDICT n.
ry act of announcement; a decree; as, the edicts of the Roman emperors; the edicts of the French monarch. It stands as an edict in destiny. Shak. Edict of Nantes (French Hist.), an edict issued by Henry IV. (A. D. 1598), giving toleration to Protestants. Its revocation by Louis XIV. (A. D. 1685) was followed by terribl…
EN- n.
prefix signifying in or into, used in many English words, chiefly those borrowed from the French. Some English words are written indifferently with en- or in-. For ease of pronunciation it is commonly changed to em- before p, b, and m, as in employ, embody, emmew. It is sometimes used to give a causal force, as in enab…
ENCYCLOPEDIST n.
ge embraces the whole range of the sciences. The Encyclopedists, the writers of the great French encyclopedia which appeared in 1751-1772. The editors were Diderot and D'Alembert. Among the contributors were Voltaire and Rousseau.
ENGLISH v.
more properly, acts of fear and dissimulation. Milton. Caxton does not care to alter the French forms and words in the book which he was Englishing. T. L. K. Oliphant.
ENTREE n.
In French usage, a dish served at the beginning of dinner to give zest to the appetite; in English usage, a side dish, served with a joint, or between the courses, as a cutlet, scalloped oysters, etc.
ENVOY n.
An explanatory or commendatory postscript to a poem, essay, or book; -- also in the French from, l'envoi. The envoy of a ballad is the "sending" of it forth. Skeat.
ESPRIT n.
Spirit. Esprit de corps (, a French phrase much used by English writers to denote the common spirit pervading the members of a body or association of persons. It implies sympathy, enthusiasm, devotion, and jealous regard for the honor of the body as a whole.
ESPY n.
A suffix of certain words from the French, Italian, and Spanish. It denotes manner or style; like; as, arabesque, after the manner of the Arabs.
EVERLASTING n.
form or color, as the pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), the immortelle of the French, the cudweeds, etc.
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