martinet

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He was what we term a martinet.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A rigid military disciplinarian.
  2. noun One who demands absolute adherence to forms and rules.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. After Jean Martinet (died 1672), French army officer.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from French martinet (= Spanish Portuguese martinete; Middle Latin martineta), a martin, swift, diminutive of martin, used in names of birds: see martin. Hence martlet.
  2. from French martinet, a cat-o'-nine-tails, tilt-hammer, etc., variously applied, but not found as in def.; perhaps a particular use of the personal name Martinet (cf. martinet), but cf. Old French martelet, diminutive of martel, a hammer: see martel.
  3. from Middle English martinett, from Old French martinet (Middle Latin martinetus), “a water-mill for an iron forge” (Cotgrave), or a forge-hammer driven by water-power; cf. martinet, martinet, etc.
  4. Said to be so called from General Martinet, who regulated the French infantry in the reign of Louis XIV. No F. use of the word in the sense of a disciplinarian appears.
 

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/mɑrtɪˈnɛt/
by American Heritage

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