lettre de cachet

American  

[le-tr^uh duh ka-she] / lɛ trə də kaˈʃɛ /

noun

French.

• lettres de cachet
  plural

1. a letter under the seal of the sovereign, especially one ordering imprisonment, frequently without trial.

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lettre de cachet British  

/ lɛtrə də kaʃɛ /

noun

1. French history a letter under the sovereign's seal, often authorizing imprisonment without trial

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• lettres de cachet
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of lettre de cachet

literally: letter with a seal

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lettre de cachet

When he was 16 his father secured a lettre de cachet for him, applied it two years later.*

From Time Magazine Archive

The enclosure was a famous place of refuge for insolvent debtors and political offenders, and sheltered Rousseau in 1765 when a lettre de cachet was issued for his arrest.

From The Story of Paris by Katherine Kimball

Next morning, instead of meeting de Rohan, he met officers armed with a lettre de cachet consigning him to the Bastille.

From Voltaire: A Sketch of his Life and Works by G. W. (George William) Foote

I have seen the lettre de cachet; it is my father who has caused me to be placed here.

From Queens of the French Stage by H. Noel Williams

We should have to get a lettre de cachet for it, and forbid it the Court; send it in exile to Pignerol, as they have just done Lauzun.

From Cecil Castlemaine's Gage, Lady Marabout's Troubles, and Other Stories by Ouida

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