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Martinet

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A strict disciplinarian; so called from the Marquis of Martinet, a young colonel in the reign of Louis XIV., who remodelled the infantry, and was slain at the siege of Doesbourg, in 1672 (Voltaire, Louis XIV., c. 10). The French still call a cat-oʹ-nine-tails a “martinet.”

The French martinet was a whip with twelve leather thongs.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Martha (St.)
Martial
Martian Laws
Martin
Martin
Martin Drunk
Martin of Bullions (St.)
Martin’s Running Footman (St.)
Martin’s Summer (St.)
Martine
Martinet
Martinmas
Martyr (Greek
Marvedie (A)
Marvellous
Mary
Mary
Mary
Marys
Mary Anne or Marianne
Mary Anne Associations