sobriquet
[soh-bruh-key, -ket, soh-bruh-key, -ket; French saw-bree-ke]
- a nickname.
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Also soubriquet.
Origin of sobriquet
1640–50; < French < ?
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sobriquet
Contemporary Examples
As the sigil of House Tyrell is a rose, the sobriquet is a play on her cunning and prickliness.
It would earn for its creator the sobriquet of “Tricky Dick.”
Historical Examples
The sobriquet had hitherto been a mere shadow, a meaningless thing, to me.
The First ViolinJessie Fothergill
The first glance at him reveals the origin of his sobriquet.
Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2)William Delisle Hay
Working his will whithersoever he fancies, unseen, unknown but for his sobriquet.
The Night RidersRidgwell Cullum
Hearing his sobriquet, a look of hope gleamed suddenly in his eye.
Bardelys the MagnificentRafael Sabatini
It was in this period that he received the sobriquet "Buffalo Bill."
Buffalo Bill's Spy TrailerColonel Prentiss Ingraham
sobriquet
soubriquet
- a humorous epithet, assumed name, or nickname
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Word Origin
C17: from French soubriquet, of uncertain origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for sobriquet
n.
1640s, from French sobriquet "nickname," from Middle French soubriquet (15c.), which also meant "a jest, quip," and is said to have meant literally "a chuck under the chin" [Gamillscheg]; of unknown origin (first element perhaps from Latin sub "under").
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper