Gallic
/ˈɡalɪk
/adjective
1Of or characteristic of France or the French: a Gallic shrug...
- Initially, the teenagers zipping along the tree-lined streets on mopeds put me in mind of small-town France, but the Gallic atmosphere evaporated when I realised that everyone was drinking tea.
- Travellers to France will discover that the French are no less Gallic for the abolition of the franc.
- But as Reuters reports, he is shrugging off the boycott, presumably with that Gallic shrug which Americans in particular seem to find so irritating.
2Relating to the Gauls: the Gallic retreat from Delphi...
- The Gallic confederacy formed under Vercingetorix; Gaul breaks into open rebellion.
- The ‘hearts’ will point to a marvellous recovery; that the Greens left with honour, as their Gallic conquerors would say.
- In Gaul, there was considerable continuity between pre-Roman and post-Roman populations, yet French contains only about 120 words with Gallic origins.
Derivatives
Gallicize
/ (also Gallicise) verb ...- The Budapest-born Sebastian - he Gallicized his name - was an old hand in the theater.
- Having attained ultimate power, Napoleon began to convert, or Gallicise the island of his birth.
- We can either sprinkle our French with Creole or decide to Gallicize these expressions, these Creole words.
Origin
Late 17th century: from Latin Gallicus, from Gallus 'a Gaul'.