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estaminet

[es-ta-mee-ne]
noun, plural es·ta·mi·nets [es-ta-mee-ne] /ɛs ta miˈnɛ/. French.
  1. a bistro or small café.
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Origin of estaminet

First recorded in 1805–15
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for estaminet

Historical Examples

  • The hole in the hedge and the estaminet beyond was all that saved him.

    The Backwash of War

    Ellen N. La Motte

  • We were billeted at an estaminet that had copped it pretty thick.

    A Lively Bit of the Front

    Percy F. Westerman

  • Just behind and in rear was an estaminet run by two French girls.

  • One of these houses was untenanted when we were there, and the other was an estaminet.

    The Spell of Flanders

    Edward Neville Vose

  • The man had been drinking last night at the estaminet up there.

    Now It Can Be Told

    Philip Gibbs

British Dictionary definitions for estaminet

estaminet

noun
  1. a small café, bar, or bistro, esp a shabby one
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Word Origin

C19: from French, perhaps from Walloon dialect staminet manger
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

Word Origin and History for estaminet

n.

1814, from French, "a café in which smoking is allowed" (17c.), of unknown origin; some suggest a connection to French estamine, a type of open woolen fabric used for making sieves, etc., from Latin stamineus "made of thread." Or from Walloon stamen "post to which a cow is tied at a feeding trough," from Proto-Germanic *stamniz (see stem (n.)).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper