vivandière

American  

[vee-vahn-dyair, vee-vahn-dyer] / ˌvi vɑnˈdjɛər, vi vɑ̃ˈdjɛr /

noun

1. a woman who formerly followed an army or maintained a store on an army post to sell provisions to the soldiers.

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vivandière British  

/ vivɑ̃djɛr /

noun

1. (formerly) a female sutler or victualler offering extra provisions and spirits to soldiers, esp those of the French and British armies

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Etymology

Origin of vivandière

First recorded in 1845–50; from French vivandière, feminine of vivandier, from Italian (masculine) vivandiere “sutler”; see also viand ( def. ), -ier ²

Example Sentences

He did not quite see the appropriateness of petticoats in actual warfare—unless, perhaps, the short petticoats of a vivandière; and he hoped that Captain Sarrasin's wife was not a vivandière.

From The Dictator by McCarthy, Justin

Marie, the heroine, and the vivandière of the Twenty-first regiment of Napoleon's army, was adopted as the Daughter of the Regiment, because she was found on the field, after a battle, by Sergeant Sulpice.

From The Standard Operas (12th edition) Their Plots, Their Music, and Their Composers by Upton, George P. (George Putnam)

He wins the heart of Catherine, a Cossack maiden, who has taken up her quarters there as a kind of vivandière.

From The Opera A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions of all Works in the Modern Repertory. by Fuller-Maitland, J. A.

The same feeling for contrast is perceptible in 'La Forza del Destino,' in which the gloom of a most sanguinary plot is relieved by the humours of a vivandière and a comic priest.

From The Opera A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions of all Works in the Modern Repertory. by Fuller-Maitland, J. A.

“But, monsieur,” she replied primly, “I am not the vivandière of the regiment.”

From The Rough Road by Locke, William John