Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The retainers or attendants accompanying a high-ranking person.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A body of retainers; a suite, as of a prince or other great personage; a train of persons; a cortège; a procession.
  • noun An accompaniment; a concomitant.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The body of retainers who follow a prince or other distinguished person; a train of attendants; a suite.
  • noun [Obs.] to keep or employ as a retainer; to retain.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A group of servants or attendants, especially of someone considered important.
  • noun obsolete A service relationship.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the group following and attending to some important person

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English retenue, from Old French, from feminine past participle of retenir, to retain; see retain.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English retenue, from Old French retenue, past participle of retenir ("retain")

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Examples

  • Ambassadors and retinue from the Constantinopolitan King had kissed the ground before Omar and had delivered their embassage, they brought out the presents, which were fifty damsels of the choicest from Graecia-land, and fifty Mamelukes in tunics of brocade, belted with girdles of gold and silver, each wearing in his ears hoops of gold with pendants of fine pearls costing a thousand ducats every one.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • The great collector and party giver Arturo Lopez-Willshaw, costumed as the emperor of China, and his wife, Patricia, disembarked with their retinue from a Chinese junk.

    All That Glittered Dunne, Dominick 1998

  • When Providence frowns upon them their retinue is soon dispersed and scattered from them.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721

  • In 1959 the Dalai Lama's escape from his homeland produced a myth: that he had conjured up a belt of cloud to hide his retinue from the Chinese air force.

    The Economist: Correspondent's diary 2009

  • In 1959 the Dalai Lama's escape from his homeland produced a myth: that he had conjured up a belt of cloud to hide his retinue from the Chinese air force.

    The Economist: Correspondent's diary 2009

  • In 1959 the Dalai Lama's escape from his homeland produced a myth: that he had conjured up a belt of cloud to hide his retinue from the Chinese air force.

    The Economist: Correspondent's diary 2009

  • Eventually, he and his retinue were a show unto themselves, held over in New York and London.

    Jim Steinmeyer's "The Last Greatest Magician in the World" 2011

  • Eventually, he and his retinue were a show unto themselves, held over in New York and London.

    Jim Steinmeyer's "The Last Greatest Magician in the World" 2011

  • A memorable part of his retinue is a fast-talking black cat called Behemoth, named after one of the Old Testament monsters.

    The 10 best devils 2010

  • He had come to accept the fact that he and his retinue were the only people left on earth.

    When the Lion Feeds Smith, Wilbur 1964

Comments

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  • An upmarket posse.

    June 11, 2008

  • Entourage wasn't good enough?

    June 12, 2008