pandour

American  

[pan-door] / ˈpæn dʊər /

noun

1. History/Historical. a member of a local militia in Croatia, formed as a regiment in the Austrian army in the 18th century and noted for its ruthlessness and cruelty.

2. a brutal, marauding soldier.

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pandour British  

/ ˈpændʊə /

noun

1. one of an 18th-century force of Croatian soldiers in the Austrian service, notorious for their brutality

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Etymology

Origin of pandour

1740–50; < French pandour ( e ) ≪ Serbo-Croatian pàndūr community or city policeman, pandour, probably < Hungarian pandúr < Slavic *pǫdarĭ (> Serbo-Croatian pùdār one who guards a vineyard), derivative of *pǫditi to drive off, frighten; the Serbo-Croatian variant bàndūr (17th century) may result from crossing with Medieval Latin banderia or Italian bandiera troop, literally, banner

Example Sentences

You're as hard as the Poles' "whiskered pandour."

From Project Gutenberg

The Pandour patrol were on the spot on the first alarm; but the whole affair was so quickly over, that all their activity was utterly useless.

From Project Gutenberg

He called out for the Pandour officers who had been placed in his antechamber; but to his astonishment, the flash of a lamp, borne by one of the assailants, showed him those Pandours the most active in his seizure.

From Project Gutenberg

I am the Pandour of Pandours—your correspondent, and now your cabinet counsellor.

From Project Gutenberg

The first lamp that was brought in showed me also, that the two Pandour captains had been turned into the two Palatines of Sidlitz and Frankerin, but by what magic I cannot yet conjecture.”

From Project Gutenberg