Thursday, 16 October 2014

Ci-devant

Word of the Day for Thursday 16th October 2014

Ci-devant \seeduh-VAHN\
Adjective
1. French. former: used especially in reference to a retired office holder.
Quotes
This self-indulgent aristo, the ci-devant banker Amédé Vincent, who had expiated his villainies upon the guillotine, was known to have been successful in abstracting the bulk of his ill-gotten wealth and concealing it somewhere...
-- Baroness Emmuska Orczy, The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, 1919
Origin
Ci-devant comes from the French word of the same spelling which literally means "heretofore."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

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