hors de combat
English
Etymology
Borrowed from French hors de combat (literally “out of combat”), which is obsolete in contemporary French.
Adjective
hors de combat (not comparable)
- (international law, literary) Out of action; disabled; no longer able to fight.
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, page 191:
- We have no influence but by our influence over those called our masters; how do we acquire that influence? By flattering a man's vanity, and by playing on his hopes and fears! These are all put hors de combat in marriage.
- 1905 January 12, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], The Scarlet Pimpernel, popular edition, London: Greening & Co., published 20 March 1912, OCLC 235822313, page 256:
- When we find them, there will be a band of desperate men at the bay. Some of our men, I presume, will be put hors de combat. These royalists are good swordsmen, and the Englishman is devilish cunning, and looks very powerful.
- 1920 April, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, OCLC 249911691, book I (The Romantic Egotist), page 72:
- On her right Froggy was hors de combat already, although he hadn't quite realized it.
- 1940 November, “Notes and News: Railway Operation Ad Lib”, in Railway Magazine, page 612:
- Non-operating revenue for the day included the collection of $50 for the repair of engine No. 9, which at the time—early August—was hors de combat.
- 1969, Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five […] :
- […] who, as an American infantry scout hors de combat, as a prisoner of war, witnessed the fire bombing of Dresden, Germany […]
- 2022 November 20, Malachy Browne; Stephen Hiltner; Chevaz Clarke-Williams; Taylor Turner, quoting Dr. Rohini Haar, “Videos Suggest Captive Russian Soldiers Were Killed at Close Range”, in The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331:
- Dr. Haar noted that when they surrendered, the Russian soldiers had been lying down, apparently unarmed, with their arms outstretched or behind their heads. “They’re considered hors de combat, or noncombatants — effectively prisoners of war,” Dr. Haar said.
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French
Etymology
Literally, “out of combat”.
Pronunciation
- (aspirated h) IPA(key): /ɔʁ də kɔ̃.ba/
Adjective
hors de combat (invariable)
- (international law) hors de combat
Further reading
hors de combat on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia fr