boulevard
[boo l-uh-vahrd, boo-luh-]
- a broad avenue in a city, usually having areas at the sides or center for trees, grass, or flowers.
- Also called boulevard strip. Upper Midwest. a strip of lawn between a sidewalk and the curb.
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Origin of boulevard
1765–75; < French, Middle French (orig. Picard, Walloon): rampart, avenue built on the site of a razed rampart < Middle Dutch bol(le)werc; see bulwark
Synonyms
See more synonyms for boulevard on Thesaurus.comSee street.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for boulevard
Contemporary Examples
The Boulevard Carnot, the seedy, downtrodden street that leads out of town, proved the point on my last night there.
On a boulevard with stacked neon-lit signs blanketing the buildings, Veatch finds the gaming arcade frequented by the Kims.
As our car sped along the Boulevard de la Madeleine, I was filled with hope and excitement.
Then it was over and black limousines rushed under the cemetery trees and out onto the boulevard toward the White House.
I walk a lot around the city, I go down to the beach, I like the boulevard.
Historical Examples
We had left the Boulevard, and were approaching the white-domed library.
The Bacillus of BeautyHarriet Stark
After dinner, about six o'clock, I went on to the boulevard.
A Hero of Our TimeM. Y. Lermontov
He owned an extensive silk warehouse on the Boulevard des Capucines.
A Zola DictionaryJ. G. Patterson
It was the best room of the hotel, the first floor room, looking on to the Boulevard.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
She was also jealous because she didn't reek of musk like that boulevard work-horse.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
boulevard
- a wide usually tree-lined road in a city, often used as a promenade
- (capital as part of a street name)Sunset Boulevard
- mainly Canadian
- a grass strip between the pavement and road
- the strip of ground between the edge of a private property and the road
- the centre strip of a road dividing traffic travelling in different directions
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Word Origin
C18: from French, from Middle Dutch bolwerc bulwark; so called because originally often built on the ruins of an old rampart
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
Word Origin and History for boulevard
n.
1769, from French boulevard (15c.), originally "top surface of a military rampart," from a garbled attempt to adopt Middle Dutch bolwerc "wall of a fortification" (see bulwark) into French, which lacks a -w-. The notion is of a promenade laid out atop demolished city walls, a way which would be much wider than urban streets. Originally in English with conscious echoes of Paris; since 1929, in U.S., used of multi-lane limited-access urban highways. Early French attempts to digest the Dutch word also include boloart, boulever, boloirque, bollvercq.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper