lansquenet

plural lansquenets · alternative obsolete lambskinnet · alternative Landsknecht · alternative landsknecht · alternative lansknecht · alternative lanzknecht · alternative lansquenette

1. countablehistoricalAny of a class of German mercenaries of the 15th and 16th centuries, most of whom were pikemen and foot soldiers.

   Ruthless killing, wanton strife / Add up to a lanzknecht’s life.

   1999, HJC von Grimmelshausen, translated by Mike Mitchell, Simplicissimus, Dedalus, published 2016, page 52

   2 more examples

   […] arising out of this festival there was established an individual lansquenet tradition, in speech and outward appearance, and the bare, sunburnt necks of the vagabond soldiers, their baggy garments hanging in shreds, and their short swords, could be seen all over the country for long afterwards.

   1855, Gottfried Keller, translated by A.M. Holt, Green Henry, Calder Publications, published 1960, page 440

   I have never really been outdoorsy enough to make a mercenary landsknecht, although their immense two-handed swords, flowing moustaches and puffed-silk slashed sleeves take some beating.

   2013, Simon Winder, Danubia, Picador, published 2014, page 55

2. uncountableA gambling card game in which the dealer is given an initial card and the players another; cards are then turned up until the value (rank) of one of those cards is met.

   And so it was over the game of lansquenet that I scored my first triumph.

   1782, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, translated by Helen Constantine, Dangerous Liaisons, published 2007, page 196

   2 more examples

   “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.

   1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

   One could see part of the dimly lit court where under an enclosed poplar two soldiers on a stone bench were playing lansquenet.

   1962, Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire

   Synonyms: skin the lamb