janissary

[jan-uh-ser-ee]

jan·is·sar·y

[jan-uh-ser-ee]
noun, plural jan·is·sar·ies.
1.
(often initial capital letter) a member of an elite military unit of the Turkish army organized in the 14th century and abolished in 1826 after it revolted against the Sultan.
2.
(often initial capital letter) any soldier in the Turkish army.
3.
a member of any group of loyal guards, soldiers, or supporters.
Also, jan·i·zar·y [jan-uh-zer-ee] .


Origin:
1520–30; < French janissaire < Italian gian(n)izzero < Turkish yeniçeri, equivalent to yeni new + çeri soldiery, militia
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Janissary is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
Collins
World English Dictionary
janissary or janizary (ˈdʒænɪsərɪ, ˈdʒænɪzərɪ)
 
n , pl -saries, -zaries
an infantryman in the Turkish army, originally a member of the sovereign's personal guard, from the 14th to the early 19th century
 
[C16: from French janissaire, from Italian giannizzero, from Turkish yeniçeri, from yeni new + çeri soldiery]
 
janizary or janizary
 
n
 
[C16: from French janissaire, from Italian giannizzero, from Turkish yeniçeri, from yeni new + çeri soldiery]

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