mitraillade
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from French mitraillade.
Noun edit
mitraillade (plural mitraillades)
- (rare, chiefly historical) Mass execution by cannon shot or (later) machine-gun, especially during the French Revolution.
- 1817, John James M’Gregor, History of the French Revolution, volume III:
- The fusillades and mitraillades were conducted with the most savage coolness.
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 487:
- when Collot d'Herbois and Fouché replaced him, a veritable frenzy of repression occurred, with opponents being gunned down into open graves in the so-called mitraillades.
Related terms edit
French edit
Etymology edit
From mitraill(er) + -ade.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
mitraillade f (plural mitraillades)
Further reading edit
- “mitraillade”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.