- of, relating to, or characteristic of France or its inhabitants, language, or culture: French cooking.
- the people of France collectively: Philosophies advanced by the French during the Age of Reason profoundly influenced the American Founding Fathers.
- a Romance language spoken in France, parts of Belgium and Switzerland, and in areas colonized after 1500 by France. Abbreviations: F, Fr.
- to prepare (food) according to a French method.
- to cut (snap beans) into slivers or thin strips before cooking.
- to trim the meat from the end of (a rib chop or chicken breast with attached wing): For this recipe, the chops on the rack of lamb are Frenched about an inch. To french a chicken breast, scrape down the meat on the wing to expose the bone.
- to prepare (meat) for cooking by slicing it into strips and pounding.
- to short-sheet (a bed).
- to give (someone) a French kiss: Her parents found her frenching her boyfriend on the porch swing after curfew.
- to perform fellatio or cunnilingus on.
- (used to excuse or apologize for the use of vulgarity): Pardon my French—I didn’t realize there were ladies present.
- U.S. novelist and short-story writer.
- U.S. sculptor.
- English field marshal in World War I.
- U.S. novelist and nonfiction writer.
- the official language of France: also an official language of Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, and certain other countries. It is the native language of approximately 70 million people; also used for diplomacy. Historically, French is an Indo-European language belonging to the Romance group
- the natives, citizens, or inhabitants of France collectively
- See French vermouth
- relating to, denoting, or characteristic of France, the French, or their language
- (in Canada) of or relating to French Canadians
- Sir John Denton Pinkstone, 1st Earl of Ypres. 1852–1925, British field marshal in World War I: commanded the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium (1914–15); Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1918–21)
