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bois brûlé

[ bwahbroo-ley; French bwah bry-ley ]
/ ˈbwɑ bruˈleɪ; French bwɑ brüˈleɪ /
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noun, plural bois brû·lés [bwahbroo-leyz; French bwah bry-ley]. /ˈbwɑ bruˈleɪz; French bwɑ brüˈleɪ/.
Canadian Older Use. Métis (def. 1).
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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
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