fusilier
or fu·si·leer
[fyoo-zuh-leer]
- a member of a British regiment formerly armed with fusils.
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Origin of fusilier
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fusilier
Historical Examples
The last I saw of the trenches was the tangled line on Fusilier Bluff.
With Manchesters in the EastGerald B. Hurst
The Fusilier had struck on that part of the sands named the Girdler.
Battles with the SeaR.M. Ballantyne
A Fusilier officer was carried in on a stretcher and laid next to me.
AttackEdward G. D. Liveing
The emigrants were cared for in London by the owners of the Fusilier.
Storm WarriorsJohn Gilmore
The Fusilier was ultimately got off the Sands, but no vestige of the Demerara was ever again seen.
Storm WarriorsJohn Gilmore
fusilier
- (formerly) an infantryman armed with a light musket
- Also: fusileer
- a soldier, esp a private, serving in any of certain British or other infantry regiments
- (pl; cap. when part of a name)the Royal Welch Fusiliers
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Word Origin
C17: from French; see fusil 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for fusilier
n.
1670s, "soldier armed with a musket," from French fusilier, from Old French fusil "musket," earlier "steel for a tinderbox," from Vulgar Latin *focilis (petra) "(stone) producing fire," from Latin focus "hearth," in Vulgar Latin "fire" (see focus (n.)). Retained by certain regiments of the British army that were formerly armed with fusils.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper