zouave

See also: Zouave

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic زَوَاوِيّ (zawāwiyy).

Noun

zouave (plural zouaves)

1. (military, historical) a French soldier in the Union army of the Unites States civil war, or a Union soldier in a French soldier's uniform.
   • 1910, Under the Maltese Cross, Antietam to Appomattox: The Loyal Uprising in Western Pennsylvania, 1861-1865; Campaigns 155th Pennsylvania Regiment‎^[1], Pittsburgh, PA: 155th Regimental Association, page 226:

     The French soldiers, for whom this uniform was patterned and made, were, as a rule, much smaller in stature than the American soldier, and hence the imported zouave uniforms distributed, in many cases, were entirely too short for the many giants in stature in the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Regiment.

   • 1918, Grosvenor Library Bulletin‎^[2], volume 1, number 1, Buffalo, NY: Grosvenor Library, page 19:

     During the Civil War in the United States, some of the Northern Volunteer regiments adpoted ^[sic] the zouave uniforms and were known as zouaves.

   • 1921, United States Naval Medical Bulletin‎^[3], volume 15, Washington: United States Navy Government Printing Office, page 154:

     I also engaged a French zouave, named Bornet, belonging to the Third Regiment, whose term of service was just out.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic زَوَاوِيّ (zawāwiyy).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zwav/
• Rhymes: -av

• Audio:

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Noun

zouave m (plural zouaves)

1. (military, historical) Zouave
2. (figuratively) an eccentric person

Further reading

• “zouave”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.