Borrowed fromFrenchci-devant.
ci-devant (notcomparable)
- Former,late.
1831,L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, inRomance and Reality. […], volume III, London:Henry Colburn andRichard Bentley, […],→OCLC,page262:Hastily Beatrice performed both her own and Emily's toilette; for what with fatigue and terror, her companion was almost powerless: still their celerity excited the praise of theci-devant professor of the fine arts.
1846, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton],Lucretia: Or The Children of Night. […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […],→OCLC:Theci-devant marquis was caught disguised in her apartment. She betrayed for him a good, easy friend of the people who had long loved her, and revenge is sweet.
- 1952,Isaac Asimov,Foundation and Empire (1974Panther Books Ltd publication), part I: “The General”, chapter 1: ‘Search for Magicians’, page 10, ¶ 4
- The old patrician retreated noiselessly with a slow bow that was part of the ceremonious legacy left by aci-devant aristocracy of the last century’s better days.
2006, Marsha Keith Schuchard,Why Mrs Blake Cried, Pimlico, published2007, page157:During art collecting tours in Italy, Townley worked with the eccentric scholar Baron d'Hancarville (ci-devant Pierre Françoise Hughes), a specialist in pornographic art[…]
ci-devant
- (archaic)former,one-time
ci-devant m orfby sense (pluralci-devant)
- (historical, French Revolution) formeraristocrat
