french

present singular third person frenches · participle present frenching · participle past frenched · past frenched

1. transitiveTo prepare food by cutting it into strips.
2. transitiveTo kiss (another person) while inserting one’s tongue into the other person's mouth.

   Tom frenched her full in the mouth.

   1988, Wanda Coleman, A War of Eyes and other stories, page 151

   Synonyms: French kiss, French

3. intransitiveTo kiss in this manner.

   We frenched by the wall.

   2003, Susan Steinberg, The End of Free Love, page 81

4. cookingTo French trim; to stylishly expose bone by removing the fat and meat covering it (as done to a rack of lamb or bone-in rib-eye steak).

plural Frenches

1. uncountableThe language of France, shared by the neighboring countries Belgium, Monaco, and Switzerland and by former French colonies around the world.

   She speaks French.

   5 more examples

   Ne mowe we alle Latin wite... Ne French...

   c. 1390, Robert Grosseteste, translating Chateau d'Amour as The Castle of Love, ll. 25 ff.

   I... wolde also be bolde in such french as is peculiare to the lawys of this realme, to leue it wyth them in wrytynge to.

   1533, Thomas More, The Debellacyon of Salem & Bizance, fol. 96

   I could speak but little French.

   1720, Daniel Defoe, Memoirs of a Cavalier, page 13

   Thus, complementary to the French of France, the Quebecois (and in a lesser degree the Frenches of Africa, Swiss French, etc.) would constitute languages in their own right.

   1991, Michael Clyne, Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 169

   Almost three quarters of the population 65 and older reported speaking French.

   1997, Albert Valdman, French and Creole in Louisiana, page 29

   Synonyms: mul:fr, mul:fre

2. uncountableThe ability of a person to communicate in French.

   My French is a little rusty.

   1 more example

   [Racine's] language is the language of the times, and that of the purest sort; so that his French is reckoned a standard.

   1742 April 4, R. West, letter to Thomas Gray

3. uncountableFrench language and literature as an object of study.

   I'm taking French next semester.

4. euphemisticironicoftenuncountableVulgar language.

   Pardon my French.

   3 more examples

   The enraged headsman spares no 'bad French' in explaining his motives.

   1845, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, Adventure in New Zealand, volume I, page 327

   Cameron: Pardon my French, but you're an asshole!

   1986, John Hughes, Ferris Bueller's Day Off'

   The book... is a welcome change from theory-infected academic discourse, pardon my French.

   2005 May 29, New York Times Book Review, page 12

5. countableA surname originating as an ethnonym.

   Dawn French.

   1 more example

   David French was a high profile #nevertrump conservative who even toyed with running for president against him.

   2017 July 14, Jason Wilson, “Like father like son? What conservatives are writing about Donald Trump Jr”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 22 Mar 2018

plural Frenches

1. collectivecountablein pluraluncountableThe people of France; groups of French people.

   Under the Fourth Republic, more and more French unionized.

   5 more examples

   The Hundred Years' War was fought between the English and the French.

   […]to breake the necke of the wicked purposes & plots of the French[…]

   1579, Francesco Guicciardini as, translated by Geoffrey Fenton, The Historie of Guicciardin, page 378

   Such is the nature and complexion of the frenches, that they are worth nothing, but at the first push.

   1653, François Rabelais, translated by Thomas Urquhart, Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, volume I, page 214

   On the way, scouts reported that some French were heading toward them across the ice.

   2002, Jeremy Thornton, The French and Indian War, page 14

   While the concept of remigration has long existed in academia, its hijacking by the far right on social media appears to have begun about a decade ago when French adherents to identitarianism, an ethno-nationalist movement, organised what they described as the inaugural meeting in Paris on remigration.

   2024 October 3, Ashifa Kassam, “How remigration became a buzzword for global far right”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 06 Mar 2025

2. datedslanguncountablelifestyleSynonym of oral sex, especially fellatio.

   ‘French’—still used by prostitutes as a term for oral sex.

   1996 October 13, Observer, page 25

   3 more examples

   French--^([sic]) to do the French--Cocksucking; and, inversely, to tongue a woman.

   1916, Henry Nathaniel Cary, The Slang of Venery and Its Analogues, volume I, page 94

   You can be whipped or caned... or you can have French for another pound.

   1968, Bill Turner, Sex Trap, page 64

   Always use condoms with Greek (anal intercourse), straight sex (vaginal intercourse, fucking), French (oral sex).

   1986 May 6, Semper Floreat, page 34

   Synonyms: oral sex

3. abbreviationdatedellipsisslanguncountableEllipsis of French vermouth, a type of dry vermouth.

   He was drinking double gins with single Frenches in them.

   1967, Michael Francis Gilbert, The Dust & the Heat, page 14

   1 more example

   Tearle replied that gin-and-French and virginian cigarettes would do for him.

   1930, Ethel Mannin, Confessions & Impressions, page 177

4. countablenon-native speakers' EnglishA French person.

comparative more French · comparative Frencher · superlative most French · superlative Frenchest

1. Of or relating to France.

   the French border with Italy

   2 more examples

   The religious interpretation of socialism and the conception of a new epoch as the fulfilment of the true content of Christianity were, in fact, current coin in the French socialism of the 1830s and 1840s.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 87

   That must have hurt, especially because you knew the French children weren’t even trying. “Uh, go on, play weez your seellee nambeurs. Zey tell you nosseeng of ze true naytcheur of ze soula. I’ll weepa for you.”

   2015 May 3, “Standardized Testing”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 2, episode 12, John Oliver (actor), via HBO

2. Of or relating to the people or culture of France.

   French customs

3. Of or relating to the French language.

   French verbs

   Synonyms: Gallian, Gallic, Gaulish

4. slanglifestyleOf or related to oral sex, especially fellatio.

   French girl

   a prostitute who offers fellatio

   2 more examples

   French active

   person who is fellated

   She was a tall redhead, with a shape that would make you jump for joy and a reputation as the best French girl in the place.

   1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Not too Far Tangent”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 23

5. euphemisticinformaloftenUsed to form names or references to venereal diseases.

   French pox

   syphillis

   2 more examples

   French disease

   a venereal disease

   French crown

   hair loss from venereal disease

6. Used to form names or references to an unconventional or fancy style.

   French cut

   sliced lengthwise in thin strips

   5 more examples

   French curve

   drafting template having edges of various curvatures

   French fries

   french cut potato fries

   French kiss

   kissing with the tongue

   French manicure

   painting white under the finger nails

   French window or French door

   double wooden windows or doors crafted with panes of glass

present singular third person Frenches · participle present Frenching · participle past Frenched · past Frenched

1. Alternative letter-case form of french.

   Even before I thought about what I was doing we Frenched and kissed with tongues.

   1995, Jack Womack, Random Acts of Senseless Violence, page 87