enfant perdu
Americannoun
plural
enfants perdusEtymology
Origin of enfant perdu
Literally, “lost child”
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 French call it “l’enfant perdu.”
From Project Gutenberg
Our laconic friend was trudging on behind the party, and to my surprise I noticed that several of the other parties had un enfant perdu, hands behind his back, marching in the rear, and as soon as we reached the prison each poor sheep in the rear fell out quite as a matter of course.
From Project Gutenberg
His figure is so interesting in itself—that of the enfant perdu of genius—and so typical of a class, that the temptation to create a Villon legend is great; but to magnify his proportions to those of the highest poets is to do him wrong.
From Project Gutenberg
He looked again, and seemed to himself to grow quite old as he looked, and he said, "Enfant perdu!"
From Project Gutenberg
"The enfant perdu of Liberalism, the mainspring of Dormillière, the hope of French America!"
From Project Gutenberg
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.
