frogeater

See also: frog-eater

English

Etymology

From frog +‎ eater, after the French custom of eating frog legs. Attested since at least the 18th century.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

frogeater (plural frogeaters)

1. (slang, derogatory, offensive) A French person.
   • 1851, Charles Dickens, A Monument of French Folly:

     Of a great Institution like Smithfield, [the French] are unable to form the least conception. A Beast Market in the heart of Paris would be regarded an impossible nuisance. Nor have they any notion of slaughter-houses in the midst of a city. One of these benighted frog-eaters would scarcely understand your meaning, if you told him of the existence of such a British bulwark.

   • 1908, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, The Elusive Pimpernel:

     Sir Andrew Ffoulkes is a gallant gentleman, you may take your Bible oath on that, but he that fights the murdering frogeaters single-handed is he whom they call The Scarlet Pimpernel: the bravest gentleman in all the world.