ci-devant \ seeduh-VAHN \ , adjective; 1. French . former: used especially in reference to a retired officeholder. 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 …she had been Eisenhowers turbulent ambassador, single-handedly saving Italy from Communism, blissfully unaware that Italian Communists has little interest in leveling the classes—her great fear—and little sympathy for the ci-devant Soviet Union. -- Gore Vidal, The Woman Behind the Women, The New Yorker , May 26, 1997
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 12:01:13 +0000