vivandière

American  

[vee-vahn-dyair, vee-vahn-dyer] / ˌvi vɑnˈdyɛər, vi vɑ̃ˈdyɛr /

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 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 colonel shook me cordially by the hand and I was embraced by the robust vivandière, who struck me as being in the practice of sustaining life on a diet of garlic.

From Camps, Quarters, and Casual Places by Forbes, Archibald

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

I longed to be a vivandière among all those fauns.

From Visionaries by Huneker, James

Last year in the Salon St Elizabeth of Hungary, and Clytemnestra, and Malesherbe’s vivandière were one and the same woman.

From Olive in Italy by Dalton, Moray