congé
Americannoun
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congés
plural
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leave-taking; farewell.
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permission to depart.
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sudden dismissal.
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a bow or obeisance.
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Architecture. a concave molding, as an apophyge, formed by a quadrant curving away from a given surface and terminating perpendicular to a fillet parallel to that surface.
noun
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permission to depart or dismissal, esp when formal
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a farewell
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architect a concave moulding See also cavetto
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of congé
From French, dating back to 1695–1705; see origin at congee
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.
See Examples For:
A sense of security regained, precariously regained—a current of silent but mutual congratulations—ran between the Bedford and the Norfolk hotels at Brighton when Lady Lucy had received her congé.
From Second String by Anthony Hope
On Stratford’s death in 1348 the monks of Christ Church, thinking to please the king, and doubtless also to found a precedent, elected Edward’s chaplain, Thomas Bradwardine, without waiting for the congé d’elire.
From The English Church in the Middle Ages by William Hunt
"Then give that girl her congé, give her a dot too, send her abroad and let her marry some count."
From The Perfume of Eros: A Fifth Avenue Incident by Edgar Saltus
"Anglice, Vaughan gets us good introductions, and makes Paris pleasant to us; we'll use him while we want him: when we don't, we will give him his congé."
From Beatrice Boville and Other Stories by Ouida
Father will be furious when he knows that I've given Mr. Burroughs his congé, and you'll come into your fortune when you are twenty-one next June.
From A Man of Two Countries by Colista M. Dowling
They then made me many apologies and congés, stretching forth their hands in token of friendship; in short, they now behaved with as much civility as before with rudeness.
From Memoirs and Historical Chronicles of the Courts of Europe Marguerite de Valois, Madame de Pompadour, and Catherine de Medici by Various
Nominally, the army is about 200,000 men, but it is whispered that numerous congés are given, in order to divert the funds that are thus saved to other objects.
From Recollections of Europe by James Fenimore Cooper
Boiardo did not disdain to assume the style of a minstrel addressing his courtly audience with compliments and congés at the beginning and ending of each canto.
From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by John Addington Symonds
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.
