Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—F

Frenchman

Done like a Frenchman, turn and turn again (1 Henry VI., iii. 4). The French are usually satirised by mediæval English authors as a fickle, wavering nation. Dr. Johnson says he once read a treatise the object of which was to show that a weathercock is a satire on the word Gallus (a Gaul or cock).

Frenchman.
The nickname of a Frenchman is “Crapaud” (q.v.), “Johnny” or “Jean,” “Mossoo,” “Robert Macaire” (q.v.); but of a Parisian “Grenouille” (Frog). (See Brissotins.)

They stand erect, they dance whene'er they walk;
Monkeys in action, parroquets in talk.

Gay: Epistle III.

French Canadian,
“Jean Baptiste.” French Peasantry, “Jacques Bonhomme.” French Reformers, “Brissotins” (q.v.).

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Fresco-painting
French of Stratford atte Bowe
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

More on Frenchman from Fact Monster:

  • Bar Harbor - Bar Harbor Bar Harbor, town (1990 pop. 2,768), SE Maine, on Mount Desert Island and on Frenchman ...
  • Gaspard Poussin - Poussin, Gaspard Poussin, Gaspard , 1615–75, French landscape painter, b. Rome. The son of a ...
  • absinthe - absinthe absinthe , an emerald-green liqueur distilled from wormwood and other aromatics, including ...
  • Urban IV - Urban IV Urban IV, d. 1264, pope (1261–64), a Frenchman (b. Troyes) named Jacques ...
  • Clement IV, pope - Clement IV Clement IV, d. 1268, pope (1265–68), a Frenchman named Guy le gros Foulques; ...

Related Content