cuisse

American  

[kwis] / kwɪs /

Also cuish

noun

Armor.

1. a piece of armor or padding for protecting the thigh.

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cuisse British  

/ kwɪʃ, kwɪs /

noun

1. a piece of armour for the thigh

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Etymology

Origin of cuisse

1275–1325; earlier also cush, plural cushies (the plural cush ( i ) e-s misanalyzed as cush- ( i ) es ), Middle English quissheu, kusheu, plural quyssewes, cusschewis < Old French quisseuz, cuisseus, plural of cuissel, equivalent to cuisse thigh (< Latin coxa hipbone) + -el noun suffix

Example Sentences

“Enough is enough,” the late Josh Ozersky wrote in one cri de cuisse in 2011.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

Soul music is playing in the background as the students take orders for cuisse de canard and paupiettes de mérou.

From The Guardian • Nov. 26, 2019

The low chant of the cuisse rompue is especially pathetic.

From English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History Designed as a Manual of Instruction by Coppee, Henry

Squires were running hither and thither, or aiding their masters to don armor, lacing helm to hauberk, tying the points of ailette, coude, and rondel; buckling cuisse and jambe to thigh and leg.

From The Outlaw of Torn by Burroughs, Edgar Rice

Reuss writes on this passage: "La cuisse n'est point agitee, mais simplement prelevee sur ce que les convives mangeront."

From Evolution of Theology: an Anthropological Study by Huxley, Thomas Henry