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apache

1 American  
[uh-pahsh, uh-pash, a-pash] / əˈpɑʃ, əˈpæʃ, aˈpaʃ /

noun

plural

apaches

  1. a Parisian gangster, rowdy, or ruffian.

Apache 2 American  
[uh-pach-ee] / əˈpætʃ i /

noun

plural

Apaches,

plural

Apache

  1. a member of an Athabascan people of the southwestern United States.

  2. any of the several Athabascan languages of Arizona and the Rio Grande basin.

  3. Military. a two-man U.S. Army helicopter designed to attack enemy armor with rockets or a 30mm gun and equipped for use in bad weather and in darkness.

adjective

  1. of or relating to an Athabascan people of the southwestern United States or their language.

Apache 1 British  
/ əˈpætʃɪ /

noun

  1. a member of a North American Indian people, formerly nomadic and warlike, inhabiting the southwestern US and N Mexico

  2. the language of this people, belonging to the Athapascan group of the Na-Dene phylum

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
apache 2 British  
/ əˈpɑːʃ, apaʃ, -ˈpæʃ /

noun

  1. a Parisian gangster or ruffian

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of apache1

1735–45, < French: Apache

Origin of Apache2

First recorded in 1915–20; from Mexican Spanish, perhaps from Zuni ʔa·paču “Navajos,” presumably applied formerly to the Apacheans (Navajos and Apaches) generally

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.

He’s Dad the destroyer, who mapped out the steps for the apache dance that defines his children’s lives.

From New York Times • Jul. 28, 2014

But the broken, jagged heart of this production belongs to Ms. Rodriguez and Mr. Cannavale, who turn their characters’ relationship into a bruising, tragicomic apache dance of love, betrayal and indecision.

From New York Times • Apr. 12, 2011

The result is a bravura hodgepodge of Spanish and gypsy dances, pas de deux, a smattering of light-footed cupids and dryads and, for some obscure reason, a jig resembling a French apache dance.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the underworld that lies behind the lovely fa�ade of Paris, a new population has moved in on the oldtime apache.

From Time Magazine Archive

The apache helped her in and closed the door.

From Juggernaut by Campbell, Alice

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.