Cornwallis

American

[kawrn-waw-lis, -wol-is] / kɔrnˈwɔ lɪs, -ˈwɒl ɪs /

noun

Charles, 1st Marquis, 1738–1805, British general and statesman: surrendered to Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, October 19, 1781.

Cornwallis British

/ kɔːnˈwɒlɪs /

noun

Charles, 1st Marquis Cornwallis. 1738–1805, British general in the War of American Independence: commanded forces defeated at Yorktown (1781): defeated Tipu Sahib (1791): governor general of Bengal (1786–93, 1805): negotiated the Treaty of Amiens (1801)

"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

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.

The barracks are thought to have been destroyed in 1781 by troops in the army of British Gen. Lord Charles Cornwallis.

From Seattle Times • May 16, 2024

This contest would be in The Cornwallis Post.

From Washington Post • Aug. 11, 2022

By a series of bold maneuvers, he and his deputies drew Cornwallis out of South Carolina and into a wild goose chase across the interior of North Carolina, into Virginia, and back again.

From Textbooks • Jan. 18, 2018

The French Admiral de Grasse sailed his naval force into Chesapeake Bay, preventing Lord Cornwallis from taking a seaward escape route.

From Textbooks • Dec. 30, 2014

Agents managed to intercept Cornwallis’s encrypted reports to Clinton during the siege of Yorktown, and James Lovell cracked the code that Cornwallis used.

From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023