petroleur
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
One who lights fires with petrol, especially (historical) a revolutionary who attacked public buildings in this way in Paris in 1871.
Example Sentences
- "Caution was necessary in moving about, the pavement had to be avoided, as the impression conveyed to the mind of the sentry, if he saw anyone near a house, was that it must be a petroleur or a petroleuse."
- "1877, quoted in 1990, Walter Boehlich, The Letters of Sigmund Freud to Eduard Silberstein, 1871-1881# In times like these one is tempted to turn into a petroleur."
- "The work of the incendiaries of 1792 was only to be finished by the petroleurs of 1871. Night was come. A great number of the Parisian population were groaning, but the revolutionists triumphed with joy."
Etymology
From French pétroleur.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: pétroleur