siege of Orleans
- noun
:
sitio de Orleans
- The siege of Orleans was a pivotal event in the Hundred Years' War that showcased Joan of Arc's courage.
Examples
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After 600 years, the siege of Orleans might be forgotten as just another one of the innumerable skirmishes between Britain and the Continent, except for its most famous participant.
Academic text (2007) -
The English got a rude surprise in 1429 at the siege of Orleans.
Academic text (2007) -
Cannon boring was a technology already well understood decades before the siege of Orleans.
Academic text (2007) -
During the siege of Orleans in 1429, the French forces successfully lifted the blockade imposed by the English.
-
Historically, the siege of Orleans is remembered for its strategic importance and the influence of Joan of Arc.
Surface Forms
Morphology
siege + of + Orleans
The phrase is directly compositional: 'siege' means a prolonged military encirclement and 'of Orleans' specifies the place, so the overall meaning 'military blockade of Orléans' is immediately derivable. The 'siege of + place' construction is a regular, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would understand it.
Etymology
Siege of Orleans was when English armies surrounded the city of Orleans, trying to stop food and help from getting in. Joan of Arc led the French to 'break' the siege, so the name remembers the 1429 event when she freed the city and changed the course of the war.
