aiguille
Americannoun
noun
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a rock mass or mountain peak shaped like a needle
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an instrument for boring holes in rocks or masonry
Etymology
Origin of aiguille
1810–20; < French: literally, needle < Vulgar Latin *acūcula, alteration of Late Latin acucula, equivalent to acu ( s ) needle + -cula -cule 1; cf. acicula
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Constantly I have been alone on the Glacier des Bois—and far among the loneliest aiguille recesses.
From The Life of John Ruskin by Collingwood, W. G. (William Gershom)
This strange aiguille has been crowned with a beautiful Romanesque chapel for some nine centuries, and it is just possible that a Roman temple stood there at an earlier date.
From France by Home, Gordon Cochrane
The aiguille may generally be represented by the type a, Fig.
From Modern Painters, Volume IV (of V) by Ruskin, John
On the 15th, about midday, we arrived upon the summit of the aiguille, and found that we had actually been within one hundred feet of it when we turned back upon the first attempt.
From The Ascent of the Matterhorn by Whymper, Edward
It needs to be buried in the snow by Joseph, and drunk out of a horn tumbler, at the foot of an aiguille, after a six hours' climb, to be at its best.
From Olivia in India by Douglas, O.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
