Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A rigid military disciplinarian.
- noun One who demands absolute adherence to forms and rules.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In ornithology, same as
martin , 1. - noun Nautical, the name formerly given to a small line fastened to the leech of a sail to bring it close to the yard when the sail is furled. Also
martnet . - noun Some kind of water-mill. Cath. Anglicum, p. 229.—2. A military engine of the middle ages.
- noun A rigid disciplinarian, especially in the army or navy; a stickler for routine or regularity in small details.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Hence, the word is commonly employed in a depreciatory sense. In military language, a strict disciplinarian; in general, one who lays stress on a rigid adherence to the details of discipline, or to forms and fixed methods.
- noun (Zoöl.) The martin.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun zoology A
martin ; aswift - noun military A strict
disciplinarian - noun figuratively Anyone who lays stress on a rigid adherence to the details of
discipline , or to forms and fixed methods or rules.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun someone who demands exact conformity to rules and forms
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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“In an extended sense, a martinet is any person for whom a strict adherence to rules and etiquette is paramount: martinets often use etiquette and other rules as an excuse to trump ethics, to the point that etiquette loses its ethical ground.” joe from Lowell says:
Matthew Yglesias » Obstructionism from Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) Boosting Lord’s Resistance Army 2010
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He became what he called the martinet, someone who belittled and mocked the officers that he initially treated as his friends.
Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 2004
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He was not what West Pointers would describe as a martinet.
EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON S. C. Gwynne 2010
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Added to the punctilio of the martinet was the rigor of the moralist.
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Iraqis, he says, are once again looking for the kind of martinet he knew as a boy.
‘Strong Like Saddam’ 2007
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Calvin, a "martinet", or oppidan, in the Collèege de la
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 3: Brownson-Clairvaux 1840-1916 1913
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3. The subtle and not so subtle innuendoes about the personal character and actions of Father Finegan: in particular in relation to the use of Church funds (vestments, no published accounts); his so called "martinet" charater (the issuing of "rules" regarding silence in Church).
Archive 2009-02-01 2009
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a "martinet," if you know what that means; and my dear mother, who by herself, perhaps, would have been almost too gentle to keep all her family in good order, was firm as a rock where any wish of _his_ was concerned.
A Christmas Posy Mrs. Molesworth 1880
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An explosive martinet on the set, but the result was 'Elmer Gantry,' 'In Cold Blood' and 'The Professionals.'
Hard-Nosed Hollywood Scott Eyman 2011
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On the movie set, Brooks was an explosive martinet.
Hard-Nosed Hollywood Scott Eyman 2011
seecoy commented on the word martinet
Take the Army; show without disguise its chiefs as martinets, its discipline as narrow-minded and unfair, and into this stupid tyranny immerse an average human being, fallible but likeable, the archetype of the spectator. And then, at the last moment, turn over the magical hat, and pull out of it the image of an army, flags flying, triumphant, bewitching, to which, like Sganarelle's wife, one cannot but be faithful although beaten (From here to eternity).
Roland Barthes, Mythologies (Operation Margarine)
December 3, 2010