View synonyms for gendarme

gendarme

[ zhahn-dahrm; French zhahn-darm ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, plural gen·darmes [zhahn, -dahrmz, zhah, n, -, darm].

a police officer in any of several European countries, especially a French police officer.
a soldier, especially in France, serving in an army group acting as armed police with authority over civilians.
(formerly) a cavalryman in charge of a French cavalry squad.

gendarme

/ ˈʒɒndɑːm; ʒɑ̃darm /

a member of the police force in France or in countries formerly influenced or controlled by France
See policeman
a slang word for a policeman
a sharp pinnacle of rock on a mountain ridge, esp in the Alps

1540–50; < Middle French, earlier gens d'armes, alteration of gent d'armes people at arms

C16: from French, from gens d'armes people of arms

On the evening of June 8, 1847, John Sullivan was apprehended by gendarmes while weaving down a sidewalk in London.

In September, Francis told the Swiss Guard and the Gendarme that the only real threats the Vatican faces are from within.

His father was executed in 1942 by a German gendarme after attempting to smuggle a packet of saccharine into the Ghetto.

A French gendarme on the case has been dispatched to London, where he will be joined by three additional French investigators.

The gendarme moved quietly away, and repeated what he had heard to his captain.

The gendarme passed on, without deigning to thank the wretched looking man in a faded fez and torn coat.

He finished with a gesture of supreme disgust, as if friendship with a gendarme were the basest of crimes.

When mother had recovered enough to speak she began to argue with the gendarme, telling him our story and begging him to be kind.

Mamma asked him why, but he said nothing and left the car, another gendarme entering as he did so.

April 19, 2024tortuous

[tawr-choo-uhs ]

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