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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vivandière

The latter were bestowed upon the French vivandière.

From Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life by Margaret Elizabeth Leigh Child-Villiers

Faith, her father was a French grenadier and her mother a vivandière.

From Clementina by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason

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 Justin McCarthy

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

From The Rough Road by William John Locke

I longed to be a vivandière among all those fauns.

From Visionaries by James Huneker

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