Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To cut (green beans, for example) into thin strips before cooking.
  • transitive verb To trim fat or bone from (a chop, for example).
  • transitive verb Slang To give a French kiss to.
  • transitive verb Vulgar Slang To perform oral sex on.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to France, a country of western Europe, or to its inhabitants. Often abbreviated Fr.
  • Foreign; from a distant or foreign land; hence, strange; uncommon; rare.
  • a variety of grenadine used for ladies' dresses and very durable.
  • Baldness produced by what was called the French disease (morbus Gallicus). Hence used with equivocation.
  • noun The language spoken by the people of France.
  • noun Collectively, the people of France.
  • To prepare according to the French mode.
  • To dress, as a chop, by partly freeing the bones.
  • In metallurgy, to carry out the last step in the refining of metallic antimony, by which ‘bowl metal’ is converted into ‘star metal.’
  • [lowercase] In botany, to appear distorted and unnatural, owing to some abnormal condition of the plant. See frenching.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • proper noun The language spoken in France.
  • proper noun Collectively, the people of France.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to France or its inhabitants.
  • adjective (Bot.) the common kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).
  • adjective (Bot.) the berry of a species of buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus), which affords a saffron, green or purple pigment.
  • adjective (Arch.) See French window, under Window.
  • adjective (Min.) a variety of granular talc; -- used for drawing lines on cloth, etc. See under Chalk.
  • adjective (Bot.) The Primula Auricula. See Bear's-ear.
  • adjective (Naut.) a mode of coiling a rope by running it backward and forward in parallel bends, so that it may run freely.
  • adjective (Bot.) a plant of the genus Hedysarum (H. coronarium); -- called also garland honeysuckle.
  • adjective a metallic wind instrument, consisting of a long tube twisted into circular folds and gradually expanding from the mouthpiece to the end at which the sound issues; -- called in France cor de chasse.
  • adjective an informal, hasty, or secret departure; esp., the leaving a place without paying one's debts.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) the European great spotted woodpecker (Dryobstes major); -- called also wood pie.
  • adjective The glossy surface produced by the application of the above.
  • adjective a dyestuff obtained from lichens and used for coloring woolen and silken fabrics, without the aid of mordants.
  • adjective rouge.
  • adjective amelcorn.
  • adjective (Arch.) a modified form of mansard roof having a nearly flat deck for the upper slope.
  • adjective a dyer's mixture of protochloride of tin and logwood; -- called also plum tub.
  • adjective See under Window.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To prepare food by cutting it into strips.
  • verb transitive To kiss (another person) while inserting one’s tongue into the other person's mouth.
  • verb intransitive To kiss in this manner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or pertaining to France or the people of France
  • noun the people of France
  • noun the Romance language spoken in France and in countries colonized by France
  • verb cut (e.g, beans) lengthwise in preparation for cooking
  • noun United States sculptor who created the seated marble figure of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. (1850-1931)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From French.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English French, Frens(c)h from Old English frencisc ("of the Franks, Frankish, French"), from Franca ("a Frank"). Compare Old High German Franko ("a Frank"), akin to Old English franca ("javelin, spear"), from the use of such weapons by the Franks.

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