Les Gueux
Americannoun
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a league of Dutch and Flemish patriots, composed chiefly of nobles and formed in 1566 to resist the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition into the Netherlands.
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(later) any of various Dutch or Flemish partisan groups organized to gain independence for the Netherlands from Spain.
Etymology
Origin of Les Gueux
< French: literally, the beggars
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.
Formed in the 16th Century to harass Spanish conquerors, Les Gueux was revived last year by students of the Nazi-shuttered Universities of Delft and Leiden.
From Time Magazine Archive
Le Grenier, Le Roi d'Yvetot, Roger Bontemps, Les Souvenirs du Peuple, Les Fous, Les Gueux, cover a considerable variety of tones and subjects, all of which are happily treated.
From A Short History of French Literature by George Saintsbury
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.
