The Collaborative International Dictionary
Chasseur \Chas`seur"\, n. [F., a huntsman. See Chase to pursue.]
(Mil.) One of a body of light troops, cavalry or infantry, trained for rapid movements.
-
An attendant upon persons of rank or wealth, wearing a plume and sword.
The great chasseur who had announced her arrival.
--W. Irving.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mobile foot-soldier, 1796, French, literally "huntsman," from Old French chaceor "huntsman, hunter," from chacier "to chase" (see chase (v.)).
Wiktionary
n. 1 A soldier equipped for rapid movement; also, any of several light infantry regiments, especially in France. 2 A servant or attendant. 3 A hotel messenger, especially in France. 4 A style of cooking in which meat is cooked with a sauce containing mushrooms, shallots and white wine
Wikipedia
Chasseur [sha-sur; Fr. sha-sœr] (a French term for "hunter") is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry (Chasseurs à pied) or light cavalry (Chasseurs à cheval) to denote troops trained for rapid action.
Chasseur French for hunter may refer to:-
- Chasseur, French term for a type of light infantry and the regiments of such infantry
- Chasseur class destroyer, French destroyers of the early 20th century
- Chasseur (1812 clipper), a Baltimore clipper commanded by Captain Thomas Boyle, one of the most famous American privateers
- Le Chasseur, a brand of French cast iron cookware
- Chasseur (sauce), a French brown sauce
- Brooklyn Chasseurs, an American Civil War unit
- A chasseur cap is another name for a kepi, which is a cap with a flat, round top and a stiff visor
- Chasseur was the French term for pursuit aircraft, i.e. fighter aircraft
Sauce chasseur, sometimes called "hunter's sauce", is a simple or compound brown sauce used in French cuisine. It is typically made using demi-glace or an espagnole sauce as a base, and often includes mushrooms and shallots. It may also include tomatoes and a finishing of fines herbes.
Usage examples of "chasseur".
Every cavalry uniform in the Empire was there: Dragoons, Carabiniers, Hussars, Chasseurs, all forming their long lines of attack behind the Lancers and Cuirassiers.
A small group of chasseurs in green coats, black silver-looped shakoes and with carbines slung on hooks on their white crossbelts trotted close by.
La vieille lui fit signe du doigt de se taire: les chasseurs vinrent alors jeter le daim mort aux pieds du capitaine Pamphile.
He rode across one of the swaying pontoon bridges to the farther side, turned sharply to the left, and galloped in the direction of Kovno, preceded by enraptured, mounted chasseurs of the Guard who, breathless with delight, galloped ahead to clear a path for him through the troops.
More rifles spat, more cavalry fell, then the chasseur officer, instead of pressing the charge home, wheeled his horse away and the two squadrons sheered off to unmask the dismounted men who now opened fire with their carbines.
The Chasseurs were literally hacking their way into the packed square, the horses unable to move against the crush of screaming men.
The crowd at the bridge could not move forward, the press of bodies was too great, but Spanish and British fought and seethed, clawed and shoved, desperate to escape the Chasseurs who cut at the fringes of the crowd.
Instead the Chasseurs kept the panic boiling so that the men had no chance to reform and turn on their pursuers with loaded muskets and raised bayonets.
The veteran Chasseurs waited until they were level with their targets and then cut backwards at the unprotected face, and Sharpe knew there would be far more wounded than dead, horribly wounded, faces mangled by the blades, heads opened to the bone.
The man who captured the colours could name his own reward, whether in money, women, or rank, and the Chasseurs tried to break the British resistance with a savage fury.
As he walked, the great sword held low in his hand, he could see riderless horses trotting round the melee where Chasseurs had been shot or dragged from the saddles.
But Chasseurs, unlike most cavalry, carried carbines, and they planned to pour a volley from close range into the red-coated ranks that would tear them apart and let the swordsmen into the gap.
The company was with them, standing with the dead, watching the Chasseurs trot away with their trophy.
There were puffs of smoke and the crackle of musketry, so someone had organised a scratch defence, but the Chasseurs were no longer fighting.
He stood up, surprised that he had to wipe his vision clear, and walked between the wounded to where the Chasseurs waited.