napoleon
noun
a pastry consisting of thin layers of puff paste interlaid with a cream or custard filling.
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napoleon
1 American
[nuh-poh-lee-uhn, -pohl-yuhn]
/ nəˈpoʊ li ən, -ˈpoʊl jən /
noun
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napoleons
plural
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a pastry consisting of thin layers of puff paste interlaid with a cream or custard filling.
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a former gold coin of France, equal to 20 francs and bearing a portrait either of Napoleon I or of Napoleon III.
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Cards.
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a game in which the players bid for the privilege of naming the trump, stating the number of tricks they propose to win.
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a bid in this game to take all five tricks of a hand.
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Napoleon
2
American
[nuh-poh-lee-uhn, -pohl-yuhn]
/ nəˈpoʊ li ən, -ˈpoʊl jən /
napoleon
British
/ nəˈpəʊlɪən /
noun
-
a former French gold coin worth 20 francs bearing a portrait of either Napoleon I or Napoleon III
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cards the full name for nap 3
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the US name for millefeuille
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of napoleon
First recorded in 1805–15, napoleon is from the French word napoléon
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.
See Examples For:
More substance comes by way of the caramelized banana napoleon flanked by dark chocolate sorbet.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 2023
We are eternally grateful to Sohla El-Waylly for creating this sky-high napoleon, which gets a summery breeze from juicy strawberries macerated in rose water.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2022
You could make a whole TV napoleon of layers.
From Time ● Nov. 13, 2013
Runners-up: Preserved kumquats atop pistachio-crusted lemon chevre cheesecake at bin on the lake; panna cotta napoleon with roasted strawberries and pineapple “caviar” at Restaurant Zoë.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 27, 2012
Then, there is the husband who takes his wife, and permits her or himself to chance a napoleon.
From Fair Italy, the Riviera and Monte Carlo Comprising a Tour Through North and South Italy and Sicily with a Short Account of Malta by W. Cope Devereux
Wars come and go, Napoleon rises and falls and these two men remain prisoners of a duty neither seems capable of escaping.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
However, the award has been controversial since being established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
His gushing about being another Napoleon allows me to note that a couple of years ago I suggested the only way to handle Donald Trump was to exile him to a nice island somewhere.
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026
It’s a strategy so fundamental it helped Napoleon win Austerlitz.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
But when Napoleon overturned the French Republic and declared himself omnipotent military dictator, again just as Adams had predicted would happen, Jefferson quickly shifted his position to accommodate the new reality.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Sir Alex is an early bird, one of those napoleons for whom a six-hour stretch in bed is a lie-in.
From Slate ● May 10, 2013
I was carried away by this unusual good fortune and I risked all 35 napoleons and lost them all.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 9, 2013
I had 6 napoleons d'or left to pay the landlady and for the journey.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 9, 2013
We made salmon "napoleons" -- stacking the sockeye with pesto, spinach, risotto-and-farro and a caramelized onion and red-pepper relish.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 3, 2011
"I'll bet two bits you've been eating napoleons again."
From Nobody by W. L. Jacobs
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.
