retinue
pronunciation
How to pronounce retinue in British English:
UK [ˈretɪnju:]
How to pronounce retinue in American English:
US [ˈretənu]
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- Noun:
- the group following and attending to some important person
Word Origin
- retinue
- retinue: [14] A retinue is etymologically ‘that which is retained’. The word was borrowed from Old French retenue, the feminine past participle of retenir ‘keep, restrain’ (source of English retain [14]). This in turn went back via Vulgar Latin *retenēre to Latin retinēre ‘hold back’, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back’ and tenēre ‘hold’ (source of English contain, obtain, etc). The notion behind retinue is of a body of men ‘retained’ in one’s service. Another English descendant of retinēre is rein.=> contain, detain, obtain, rein, retain
- retinue (n.)
- late 14c., from Old French retenue "group of followers, state of service," literally "that which is retained," noun use of fem. past participle of retenir "to employ, to retain, hold back" (see retain). Related: Retinular.
Example
- 1. To feed and reward his huge retinue , he took 30000 donkey-loads of grain from kabul and ghazni .
- 2. Angela ahrendts arrived at our interview in a showroom at her new london headquarters with a bustling retinue .
- 3. Just a few months ago , some chinese media outlets were offering mr. locke as a role model for china 's stuffy political leaders - an american bigwig who flew economy class and shunned having a retinue of underlings , like those who attend to the needs of politicians here .
- 4. The king and his retinue had just returned and they too , along with the flies on the wall and everything else in the castle , fell asleep .
- 5. And both leaders have a history of , shall we say , recruiting young women from the palace retinue .