franc-tireur
Americannoun
noun
-
a sniper
-
a guerrilla or irregular soldier
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of franc-tireur
First recorded in 1800–10
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.
A stowaway foretopman on the ship of state; a franc-tireur for the West and Christendom; a Burke, a Roland, a Quixote, with a whiff of Falstaff and a swing of the snickersnee.
From Time Magazine Archive
That such measures have not been pushed to an extreme by the British authorities is shown by the fact that the captured guerilla has been made a prisoner of war—unlike his prototype, the franc-tireur.
From The War in South Africa Its Cause and Conduct by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir
The franc-tireur in charge of the wine-bin watches us complaisantly from his counter where he sits flanked by flasks of Hoboken chianti and a case of brittle cigars.
From Shandygaff by Morley, Christopher
"A franc-tireur always lies," said another Valtelline man, Marius Girr, scornfully, but enunciating a principle generally received in the army.
From A Tatter of Scarlet Adventurous Episodes of the Commune in the Midi 1871 by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)
DUCAT, a franc-tireur of the woods at Dieulet.
From A Zola Dictionary; the Characters of the Rougon-Macquart Novels of Emile Zola; by Patterson, J. G
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.
