bois brûlé

[bwah broo-ley, bwah bry-ley]

noun

plural

bois brûlés 

1. Canadian Older Use.,  Métis.

bois-brûlé

/ ˌbwɑːbruːˈleɪ /

noun

1. Also called: Brule. archaic,  (sometimes capital) a mixed-race person of Canadian Indian and White (usually French Canadian) ancestry; Métis

Word History and Origins

Origin of bois-brûlé¹

First recorded in 1800–10; from French: literally, “burnt wood”

Word History and Origins

Origin of bois-brûlé¹

French, literally: burnt wood

Example Sentences

Originals are particularly evident in the St. Mihiel salient, at Bois Brule in the Marne region, and at Belleau Wood in the Aisne, where the American Marines earned the enduring gratitude of the French.

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In Bois Brûlé, they are particularly well preserved.

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What’s now known as Bois Brûlé, or the burnt woods — scorched in four years of fighting — was forest primeval until September 1914, when the Germans came.

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One was by way of the narrow and turbulent Bois Brulé, then much choked by fallen trees and beaver dams; a portage trail of a mile and a half from its headwaters to those of the St. Croix River; and thence, through foaming rapids, and deep, cool lakes, down into the Father of Waters.

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Obtaining such supplies, he proceeded up the Mississippi to the Chippeway River, and, after ascending to its head, made portages to the St. Croix, and reached Lake Superior, possibly by the river now known as the Bois Brule.

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