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Cordelier

[kawr-dl-eer]
noun
  1. a Franciscan friar: so called from the knotted cord worn as a girdle.
  2. Cordeliers, a political club in Paris that met at an old Cordelier convent at the time of the French Revolution.
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Origin of Cordelier

1350–1400; < Middle French; replacing Middle English cordeler. See cordelle, -er2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for cordelier

Historical Examples

  • Madam, said she, did you not observe that fine young Cordelier, who brought the Box?

    The Works of Aphra Behn

    Aphra Behn

  • Charles had about him ‘an Irish cordelier,’ one Kelly, whom he employed as a secretary.

    Pickle the Spy

    Andrew Lang

  • No doubt some city gate would be opened to the Cordelier's band.

  • As I had hoped, the gate was thrown open before the Cordelier.

  • The cordelier was as glad of that as a man who has stalked a covey of partridges.

    A Monk of Fife

    Andrew Lang

British Dictionary definitions for cordelier

Cordelier

noun
  1. RC Church a Franciscan friar of the order of the Friars Minor
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Word Origin

C19: from Old French cordelle, literally: a little cord, from the knotted cord girdles that they wear
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