quain.
/keɪ/, U.S. /keɪ/, /ki/ 1. In France: a public street or path along the embankment of a stretch of navigable water, usually having buildings along the land side; spec. one on either bank of the Seine in Paris.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > street > [noun] > beside a river or canal
graft1644
quai1826
1826 B. Disraeli Let. 9 Aug. (1982) 67 Certainly the Quais and the Boulevards are two most miraculous features of this City.
1873 R. Browning Red Cotton Night-cap Country ii. 89 One whose father's house upon the Quai Neighboured the very house where that Voltaire Died mad and raving.
1927 C. Connolly Let. 11 Feb. in Romantic Friendship (1975) 251 The solidarity of this town [sc. Bordeaux] with its respectable houses and cobbled quais.
1977 Time 28 Nov. 31/3 The canal that once passed along the quai has been replaced by a Métro station.
2006 Gridskipper (Nexis) 24 Aug. On the verdant Canal St-Martin (just down the quai from the audacious hot pink, green, and yellow storefronts of Antoine et Lili).
2. Short for Quai d'Orsay n.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > government department or agency > [noun] > French government department > foreign office
Quai d'Orsay1876
quai1960
1960 N. Mitford Don't tell Alfred iv. 47 They know absolutely everything you do..what impression Alfred makes at the Quai..and so on.
1973 H. Trevelyan Diplomatic Channels i. 20 During General de Gaulle's later years, French diplomats who received their instructions from the Quai were handicapped, since the Quai often did not know what policy the General was pursuing through his inner circle.
1998 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 14 May 18/1 The institutions of Paris, starting with the ‘Quai’..were all but genetically programmed against having an intime relationship with America.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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