Meaning of canaille | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The lowest class of people; the rabble; the vulgar.
   collective, countable
2. Shorts or inferior flour.
   Canada, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“I was on a rampart watching the enemy pitch their camp; and, seeing the crowd of idlers round the stream, I asked M. du Pont, commissary of the artillery, to send⟳ one cannon-shot among this canaille: he gave me a flat refusal, saying that all this sort⟳ of people was not worth the powder would be wasted on them.”

“… whatever language he knows, he knows precisely; whatever word he pronounces, he pronounces rightly; above all, he is learned in the peerage of words; knows the words of true descent and ancient blood, at a glance⟳, from words of modern canaille; …”

“The President's Cup, for all its high-sounding name⟳, was one of the lowliest and most humble trophies offered for competition to the members of our club... It had been instituted by a kindly committee for the benefit of the canaille of our little golfing world, those retired military, naval and business men who withdraw⟳ to the country and take⟳ up golf in their fifties.”

CEFR level