cordeau

English

Etymology

French cordeau

Noun

cordeau (countable and uncountable, plural cordeaux)

1. (archaic) A detonating cord.
   • 1960, Basil Timothy Fedoroff, Encyclopedia of Explosives and Related Items, volume 3, page 312:

     The middle section of cordeau is attached (by means of a string) to a narrow lead plate, […]

French

Etymology

Mid-16^th century, from Old French cordel, from corde, from Latin chorda, from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔʁ.do/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

cordeau m (plural cordeaux)

1. (usually thin or small) rope, string (used to mark a straight line)
2. cord (long length of twisted strands of fibre)
3. straight line

   Aligner une muraille au cordeau.

   To align a wall along a straight line.

4. (fishing) line, fishing line
5. (mining) fuse (cord that conveys fire to an explosive device)

Related terms

• corde
• cordelet

Further reading

• “cordeau”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• couarde
• coudera

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [korˈde̯aw]

Verb

cordeau

1. third-person plural imperfect indicative of cordi