de Lesseps

/ (French də lɛsɛps) /


noun
  1. Vicomte Ferdinand Marie (fɛrdinɑ̃ mari). 1805–94, French diplomat: directed the construction of the Suez Canal (1859–69) and the unsuccessful first attempt to build the Panama Canal (1881–89)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use de Lesseps in a sentence

  • The aged de Lesseps—acclaimed as a hero yesterday, denounced as a traitor to-day—died of a broken heart.

    Heroes of To-Day | Mary R. Parkman
  • This was the theater of the failure of Count de Lesseps, the most stupendous financial fiasco in the history of the world.

    The Panama Canal | Frederic Jennings Haskin
  • de Lesseps, like many another man, had been spoiled by success, and had lost his usual good judgment.

    The Hero of Panama | F. S. Brereton
  • And even now de Lesseps and his men were digging night and day that the steamboat might push the proud clipper from the seas.

    The Wind Bloweth | Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne