enceinte
See also: enceinté
English
Adjective
enceinte (not comparable)
- Pregnant.
- 1909, James Anthony Froude et al., The Reign of Henry the Eighth, volume I:
- And the time was pressing, for the new queen was enceinte, and further concealment was not to be thought of.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:pregnant
Noun
enceinte (plural enceintes)
- An enclosure.
- 1853, Abbé de St. Michon [i.e., Jean-Hippolyte Michon], chapter XIV, in [anonymous], transl., Narrative of a Religious Journey in the East in 1850 and 1851, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 338:
- These labours upon Phœnician necropoli are of great importance. [...] M. [Louis Félicien] de Saulcy, one of the first travellers who has thrown light upon these necropoli, devoted himself to a very interesting examination of the tombs of the kings, of the prophets and judges, and upon the immense necropolis that surrounds Jerusalem, like a funeral enceinte.
- 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 824:
- And so across the bridge and into the enceinte of the massive walls, threading their way towards the quarter where the morgue lay.
- The line of works forming the main enclosure of a fortress.
- The area or town enclosed by a line of fortification.
- S. W. Williams
- The suburbs are not unfrequently larger than their enceinte.
- S. W. Williams
French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French enceinte, from Latin incīncta, feminine past participle of incingō. Compare Italian incinta, Spanish and Catalan encinta.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɑ̃.sɛ̃t/
audio (file)
Adjective
enceinte f (feminine only, feminine plural enceintes)
Usage notes
The masculine form enceint is occasionally used with regard to transgender men, for species with male pregnancy such as seahorses, as well as in metaphorical, jocular, or fantastic contexts.
Derived terms
Descendants
- English: enceinte
Further reading
- “enceinte”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Old French
Descendants
- French: enceinte
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.