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
Then may I ask what are these canaille to me?
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 95, September 1865 by Various
The canaille have taken to parade the streets, singing and shouting their odious songs, and Jocasse has suffered much from the disturbance.
From Sir Jasper Carew His Life and Experience by Charles James Lever
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
She was sorry for the canaille, the Effie Mays, who had no such inner power to rely upon....
From Why Joan? by Eleanor Mercein Kelly
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