canaille
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of canaille
1670–80; < French < Italian canaglia pack of dogs, equivalent to can ( e ) dog (< Latin canis ) + -aglia collective suffix
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 knew nothing of that silent middle class that struggled between genteel poverty and the impossible desire of emulating the golden canaille to which he himself belonged.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
He had with him as his chamber-moor his long, lean dispenser, who in the adjoining drinking-room encountered the very short dispenser of the second apothecary's-shop, or shop of the canaille.
From Hesperus or Forty-Five Dog-Post-Days Vol. I. A Biography by Jean Paul
One of the canaille, a jailer, was put on the witness stand and questioned briefly.
From In the Day of Adversity by Bloundelle-Burton, John
When I am in the bill at Les ambassadeurs, the place is always full of English—my songs are canaille, aren't they? really canaille.
From Woman and Artist by O'Rell, Max
"Cette canaille de R�publique!" murmured in my ear, as we drove off, my friend and host, whose sympathies were entirely with the ancien r�gime.
From A New Medley of Memories by Hunter-Blair, David
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.
