The Collaborative International Dictionary
Tirailleur \Ti`rail`leur"\, n. [F., from tirailler to skirmish, wrest, from tirer to draw.] (Mil.) Formerly, a member of an independent body of marksmen in the French army. They were used sometimes in front of the army to annoy the enemy, sometimes in the rear to check his pursuit. The term is now applied to all troops acting as skirmishers.
Wiktionary
n. an infantry soldier
Wikipedia
Tirailleur literally means a shooting skirmisher in French from tir—shot.
The term dates back to the Napoleonic period where it was used to designate light infantry trained to skirmish ahead of the main columns. Subsequently "tirailleurs" was used by the French Army as a designation for infantry recruited in the French colonial territories during the 19th and 20th centuries or for metropolitan units serving in a light infantry role.
The French army currently maintains one tirailleur regiment, the 1er régiment de tirailleurs. This regiment was known as the 170th infantry regiment between 1964 and 1994. Prior to 1964, it was known as the 7e régiment de tirailleurs algériens, but changed its name after being moved to France as a result of Algerian independence.
Usage examples of "tirailleur".
This formidable advance is preceded by swarms of tirailleurs, who tread down the high wheat, exposing their own men in the rear.
A patrol of Tirailleurs Indigenes passed by going up the street, in yellow and blue uniforms, turbans and white gaiters, their rifles over their broad shoulders.
She saw the patrol of Tirailleurs Indigenes marching at the double to the doorway in which the Arabs were still struggling.
CHAPTER XXIII When the priest drew close to the tent Domini saw that it was not he who carried the lantern, but a native soldier, one of the Tirailleurs, formerly called Turcos, who walked beside him.
Hussars, Dragoons, Lancers, Cuiraisseurs, Chasseurs, Guardsmen, Grenadiers, Voltigeurs, Tirailleurs, Infantry, Artillery, Bandsmen, Engineers, Ambulance men, Drivers, Staff, all of them pulled by the beat of the drum to this place where they became an army.
Senegalese Tirailleurs, the famous Tirailleurs, so much decried and discussed before the war, who were to win the admiration of the English generals under whose orders they fought.
English detachment under the command of Lieutenant Thomson having been strongly repulsed in an attack on the post at Kamina, was reinforced by a group of the Senegalese Tirailleurs made up of a sergeant, two corporals, and fourteen Blacks.
When the fight was over and the enemy was in flight, the bodies of the sergeant, the two corporals, and of nine dead and four wounded Tirailleurs were found stretched out alongside the English officer and an under officer who was also English.
CHAPTER XXIII When the priest drew close to the tent Domini saw that it was not he who carried the lantern, but a native soldier, one of the Tirailleurs, formerly called Turcos, who walked beside him.
This formidable advance is preceded by swarms of tirailleurs, who tread down the high wheat, exposing their own men in the rear.