grenadier
pronunciation
How to pronounce grenadier in British English:
UK [ˌɡrenəˈdɪə(r)]
How to pronounce grenadier in American English:
US [ ˌɡrenəˈdɪr]
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- Noun:
- an infantryman equipped with grenades
- deep-sea fish with a large head and body and long tapering tail
Word Origin
- grenadier (n.)
- 1670s, originally a word for soldiers "who were dexterous in flinging hand-granados" [Evelyn], from French grenadier (15c.), from Middle French grenade "grenade" (see grenade); later "the tallest and finest men in the regiment" [OED]. Grenades went out of use in 18c., but the name was retained by certain companies of regiments.
Example
- 1. Historically , grenadier regiments and battalions began as ad hoc assault forces .
- 2. Instead , each grenadier company became a " heavy mob " of the biggest and strongest soldiers in a regiment .
- 3. Jamie janes joined the grenadier guards shortly after his 16th birthday and was on his second tour of afghanistan when he was killed by a taliban bomb on october 5 .
- 4. As bosnia burned , lord hurd 's view was similar to that of otto von bismarck 's more than a century earlier when he declared that the balkans were not worth the bones of a single pomeranian grenadier .