Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
corbeil . - noun A fancy flower- or fruit-basket.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word corbeille.
Examples
-
In prehistoric days, maybe, the water gushed out somewhere near the Chott; the charming depression of the "corbeille" is perhaps the work of human hands.
Fountains in the Sand Rambles Among the Oases of Tunisia Norman Douglas 1910
-
"corbeille," join their waters and speed downhill towards the oasis, a narrow belt of trees running along either side.
Fountains in the Sand Rambles Among the Oases of Tunisia Norman Douglas 1910
-
The comparative poverty of the young couple and the absence of a corbeille quickened the interest that people love to exhibit; for it is with beneficence as with ovations, we prefer the deeds of charity which gratify self-love.
Eve and David 2007
-
I know nothing more stupidly bourgeois and commonplace than to spend a hundred thousand francs on a corbeille, when five thousand a year given to a young woman saves her much anxiety and lasts her lifetime.
A Marriage Contract 2007
-
Besides, the money for a corbeille is needed to decorate your house in Paris.
A Marriage Contract 2007
-
The comparative poverty of the young couple and the absence of a corbeille quickened the interest that people love to exhibit; for it is with beneficence as with ovations, we prefer the deeds of charity which gratify self-love.
Eve and David 2007
-
A bouquet or two of the choicest blossoms fell on the unperturbed head of one Mr. Graves, a stony young assistant he usually carried about with him; with a second nosegay he gifted another young gentleman in his train - an interesting fac - simile of himself, being, indeed, his own son; but the full corbeille of blushing bloom fell to the lot of meddling womankind, en masse.
-
Then there were silk gowns, and velvet and satin ones added to these; laces, too, and embroideries; bonnets and gloves; for the corbeille had been of rare quality.
The Awakening 2000
-
“_Garçon_, put a roast fowl and some _pâtés_, with a loaf of bread and a bottle of Bordeaux, into a _corbeille_ and send it down to the port.”
Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia with Notices of their History, Antiquities, and Present Condition. Thomas Forester
-
On the eve, my mother had sent forty thousand livres 'worth of precious stones to Mademoiselle de Lorges, and I six hundred Louis in a corbeille filled with all the knick-knacks that are given on these occasions.
qroqqa commented on the word corbeille
corbeil, corbeille
1. Fortif. A basket filled with earth and placed on a parapet to protect and conceal the defending soldiers. Obs.
2. Arch. (See quots.) (Sometimes erron. corbel—an unrelated word.)
1734 Builder's Dict., Corbeils is a Piece of Carved Work in the form of a basket, full of flowers or fruits, serving in Architecture to finish some Ornament. Corbels..the Representation of a Basket sometimes seen on the heads of the Caryatides.
1823 P. NICHOLSON Pract. Build. 583 Corbeils..sometimes used to express the bell or vase of the Corinthian capital.
3. In the French form, sometimes used for an elegant fruit or flower basket.
—adapted from OED
Her dark hair is piled high and woven elaborately as a corbeille.
—Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
July 7, 2008