Dictionary.com

bois brûlé

[ bwahbroo-ley; French bwah bry-ley ]
/ ˈbwɑ bruˈleɪ; French bwɑ brüˈleɪ /
Save This Word!

noun, plural bois brû·lés [bwahbroo-leyz; French bwah bry-ley]. /ˈbwɑ bruˈleɪz; French bwɑ brüˈleɪ/.
Canadian Older Use. Métis (def. 1).
QUIZ
THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?
Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.
Question 1 of 7
In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

Origin of bois brûlé

First recorded in 1800–10; from French: literally, “burnt wood”
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bois brûlé in a sentence

  • Just then a piece of white, newly-tanned deerskin was hoisted up in the center of the bois brule encampment.

    Indian Boyhood|[AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. Eastman
  • The Bois Brule and Ami, as he called the bear, soon became necessary to one another.

    Old Indian Days|[AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. Eastman
  • A dog-team and a bois-brule bring them, and then I am alone as before.

    Romany of the Snows|Gilbert Parker
  • The Bois Brule was treated with kindness and honor, and the tribe gave him a wife.

    Old Indian Days|[AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. Eastman

British Dictionary definitions for bois brûlé

bois-brûlé
/ (ˌbwɑːbruːˈleɪ) /

noun
(sometimes capital) Canadian archaic a mixed-race person of Canadian Indian and White (usually French Canadian) ancestry; MétisAlso called: Brule

Word Origin for bois-brûlé

French, literally: burnt wood
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
FEEDBACK