Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A secondary or temporary place of lodging.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A temporary lodging; a lodging or small apartment which one keeps for convenience to use in passing through a town, etc.
- noun Mil., a foothold; a place from which to sally forth and upon which to retreat, as in a sortie upon an enemy.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun smaller
temporary orsecondary lodging ; asecond home - noun house in the
city
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[French : pied, foot + à, to, on + terre, ground.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From French pied-à-terre (literally “foot on ground”)
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Examples
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dontcry commented on the word pied-à-terre
well, from my French, i think it means "foot on the ground, or earth" something like that. Maybe it means "being grounded" thesedays...
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word pied-à-terre
Little known fact: This is actually one of those words the French don't like to admit they borrowed from another language, in this case English. It comes from "pie (of) the territory," a Welsh delicacy much like an empanada: minced meat, onion and herbs in a sort of starchy pouch, originally made for shepherds to take with them.
Anyway, these were a hit with the French for a while in the 18th century, though they they mangled the transliteration (and pronunciation). They functioned as a sort of early take-out food, favored in particular by wealthy merchants and the like visiting Paris. They would take a pied-à-terre back to their apartments, and eventually the term came to refer to the apartments themselves.
Naturally, the French came up with a dubious back-formation to disguise the foreign derivation. See the work of Prof. Da Nes for more detail.
April 27, 2008
bilby commented on the word pied-à-terre
Lol Asa. You worked hard on that one.
April 27, 2008