Old Contemptibles
Britishplural noun
Etymology
Origin of Old Contemptibles
so named from the Kaiser's alleged reference to them as a ``contemptible little army''
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.
They were ill-trained and vitiated by appeasement when war came, not unlike the "Old Contemptibles" which the Kaiser scorned in 1914.
From Time Magazine Archive
Thus with proud self-derision the Old Contemptibles* of 1914 sang as they marched to battle.
From Time Magazine Archive
No one officially said where the B. E. F. was stationed, but everyone knew: on France's low-lying Belgian border from Lille to Hirson, right where the "Old Contemptibles" took their stand 25 years ago.
From Time Magazine Archive
A more serious error, and one which must delight the experts of psychological warfare, is the statement about the Old Contemptibles, "which the Kaiser scorned in 1914."
From Time Magazine Archive
The first Divisions of the "Old Contemptibles" to proceed to the Continent were fitted out with interpreters by the French.
From Experiences of a Dug-out, 1914-1918 by Callwell, C. E. (Charles Edward), Sir
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.
