escadrille
Americannoun
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a squadron or divisional unit of airplanes.
the Lafayette Escadrille of World War I.
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Obsolete. a small naval squadron.
noun
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a French squadron of aircraft, esp in World War I
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a small squadron of ships
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of escadrille
1910–15; < French: flotilla, Middle French < Spanish escuadrilla, diminutive of escuadra squadron
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:
After the United States entered the conflict, the escadrille was absorbed into the American air service, and today its members are considered the godfathers of the U.S.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2016
“I don’t think Prince minded going,” fellow escadrille pilot James R. McConnell wrote.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2016
Life in the escadrille was glamorous and deadly.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2016
World War II's escadrille is the American Eagle Squadron, quietly recruited and energized by Colonel Charles Sweeney, a U. S. soldier of fortune who fought in the Foreign Legion last time.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the sky an escadrille of French planes had appeared and the three German specks had vanished, followed by a trail of little puffs of shrapnel.
From One Man's Initiation—1917 by Dos Passos, John
Since then methods have changed, and the future belongs to fighting escadrilles or groups of machines.
From Georges Guynemer Knight of the Air by Sill, Louise Morgan
Moreover a round 33 escadrilles of all the various types were in reserve.
From Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Talbot, Frederick Arthur Ambrose
The airplanes are organized in escadrilles, usually composed of ten machines each, for three distinct purposes.
From Italy at War and the Allies in the West by Powell, E. Alexander (Edward Alexander)
The squadrons, numbering more than 270, were divided into bombing, chasing, patrolling and field escadrilles, these last being intrusted with scouting, photographing, and artillery work, in constant touch with the infantry.
From Georges Guynemer Knight of the Air by Sill, Louise Morgan
The eight escadrilles of fighting machines form a rather interesting colony.
From Flying for France With the American escadrille at Verdun by McConnell, James R. (James Rogers)
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.
