pis aller
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of pis aller
literally: (at) the worst going
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.
I don't offer you my work as a pis aller.
From Carlyon Sahib by Gilbert Murray
Soh! she would secure me as a pis aller, I suppose, in case Mr. Rashleigh Osbaldistone should not take compassion upon her!
From Rob Roy — Volume 01 by Sir Walter Scott
He knew very well he was the pis aller of the party, and only danced when Parson Frank was not dragged out, nothing loth, by his little daughter.
From Chantry House by Charlotte Mary Yonge
It looks mean and ungrateful to the dear old place and our friends to go back to them as a kind of pis aller after having exhausted the pleasures of vagabondising.
From The Crooked Stick or Pollies's Probation by Rolf Boldrewood
Dinner was looked forward to with curiosity, as well as appetite; my wife, as usual, distrusting our experiments, was not sanguine of success, and made ready some plain food as a pis aller*.
From Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
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.
