carabinier

carabineer, rifleman

noun kah-rah-bee-NYEH Rare

Origin: French carabine (carbine rifle) + -ier

Usage Note

Carabinier historically referred to a soldier armed with a carbine rifle. The phrase arriver comme les carabiniers (to arrive like the carabineers) means to arrive too late to be of any use — an allusion to Offenbach's operetta Les Brigands. In Italian, carabinieri are a national police force, a term also used in French.

Examples

"Les carabiniers sont arrivés trop tard."

Natural Translation

The carabineers arrived too late.

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