lansquenet

English

Borrowed from French lansquenet, from German Landsknecht, from Lands (“of the land”) + Knecht (“servant”).

lansquenet (countable and uncountable, plural lansquenets)

(countable, historical) Any of a class of German mercenaries of the 15th and 16th centuries, most of whom were pikemen and foot soldiers.
- 1855, Gottfried Keller; A.M. Holt (translator), Green Henry, Calder Publications, page 440:
  […] arising out of this festival there was established an individual lansquenet tradition, in speech and outward appearance, and the bare, sunburnt necks of the vagabond soldiers, their baggy garments hanging in shreds, and their short swords, could be seen all over the country for long afterwards.
- 1999, Mike Mitchell, translating HJC von Grimmelshausen, Simplicissimus, Dedalus 2016, p. 52:
  Ruthless killing, wanton strife / Add up to a lanzknecht’s life.
(uncountable) A card game, used for gambling.
- 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 29686887 , chapter I:
  “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.
- 1962, Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire:
  One could see part of the dimly lit court where under an enclosed poplar two soldiers on a stone bench were playing lansquenet.
- 1782, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos; Helen Constantine (translator), Dangerous Liaisons, published 2007, page 196:
  And so it was over the game of lansquenet that I scored my first triumph.

German mercenary of the 15th or 16th century

gambling card game

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