Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Flambeau
Flam′beau
;Noun.
pl.
Flambeaux
(#)
or Flambeaus
(#)
. [F., fr. OF.
flambe
flame, for flamble
, from L. flammula
a little flame, dim. of flamma
flame. See Flame
.] A flaming torch, esp. one made by combining together a number of thick wicks invested with a quick-burning substance (anciently, perhaps, wax; in modern times, pitch or the like); hence, any torch.
Webster 1828 Edition
Flambeau
FLAM'BEAU
,Noun.
A light or luminary made of thick wicks covered with wax, and used in the streets at night, at illuminations, and in processions. Flambeaus are made square, and usually consist of four wicks or branches, near an inch thick, and about three feet long, composed of coarse hempen yarn, half twisted.
Definition 2024
flambeau
flambeau
English
Noun
flambeau (plural flambeaus or flambeaux)
- A burning torch, especially one carried in procession.
- 1837 Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History
- Saint-Antoine has its cannon pointed (full of grapeshot); thrice applies the lit flambeau; which thrice refuses to catch,—the touchholes are so wetted....
- 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 955:
- She walked quietly with apparent composure and lowered head but her pallor betrayed her mortal fear – her skin glowed almost nacrous in the warm rose of the flambeaux.
- 1837 Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History
Translations
a burning torch, especially one carried in procession
See also
French
Etymology
Noun
flambeau m (plural flambeaux)
- torch
- candle
- candlestick
- (metonymically) light, flame as symbolic spirit of something
Descendants
- Dutch: flambouw (borrowed)
References
- Nouveau Petit Larousse illustré. Dictionnaire encyclopédique. Paris, Librairie Larousse, 1952, 146th edition
- “flambeau” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).