DCHP-1 Online

Bostonnais Bastonnais, Bostonais, Bostonnois [< Cdn F Bostonais] Hist.

• 1 n. a person from the United States; a United States citizen.

  See also: Boston  Boston people  

  • 1785  (1943)  The Bostonnois, as the men call them, have a house here which contains a fine woman and some very fine children.
  • 1808  The pious and loyal Canadian . . . remembers his wars with the Bostonnais.
  • 1963  The Canadians were not moved to spring to arms against this renewed attack; in a quarrel of the English and the "Bastonnais," their interest was uncertain.

• 2 n. an American trader, especially on the Pacific Coast.

  See also: Boston pedlar (def. 1)  

  • 1776  (1901)  On my remarking to Mr. Frobisher, that I suspected the Bastonnais had been doing some mischief in Canada, the Indians directly exclaimed, "Yes; that is the name, Bastonnais."
  • 1897  It is amusing to read that the American traders, who originally were chiefly from New England, were known by the savages of the Pacific coast as "Boston-men," even as the same enterprising traders were known to the French in Canada invariably as "Bastonnais."
  • 1908  Shall we kill--is it good we kill--these Bostonais who come to take our lands?