pied-à-terre

[ pee-ey-duh-tair, -dah-, pyey- ]
See synonyms for: pied-à-terrepieds-à-terre on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural pieds-à-terre [pee-ey-duh-tair, -dah-, pyey-], /piˌeɪ dəˈtɛər, -dɑ-, ˌpyeɪ-/,
  1. a residence, as an apartment, for part-time or temporary use.

Origin of pied-à-terre

1
1820–30; <French: literally, foot on ground

Words Nearby pied-à-terre

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pied-à-terre in a sentence

  • Blakeney had more than one pied-a-terre in Paris, and never stayed longer than two or three days in any of these.

    El Dorado | Baroness Orczy
  • The Sparrow had twenty names—one for every city in which he had a cosy pied-a-terre.

    Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo | William Le Queux
  • Indeed, Dr. Lyschinski's was hardly more than a pied-a-terre for him: he never stayed long, and generally came unexpectedly.

  • He had made up his mind not to return to Wimbledon, but to make use of a certain pied-a-terre which he had in Pimlico.

    Demos | George Gissing

British Dictionary definitions for pied-à-terre

pied-à-terre

/ (ˌpjeɪtɑːˈtɛə) /


nounplural pieds-à-terre (ˌpjeɪtɑːˈtɛə)
  1. a flat, house, or other lodging for secondary or occasional use

Origin of pied-à-terre

1
French, literally: foot on (the) ground

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