[F., lit. ‘place-servant.’] A man who acts as a guide to strangers or tourists; a cicerone.
1750. Chesterf., Lett. (1774), II. xiii. 52. You will have your coach,… your own footman, and a valet de place.
1792. C. Smith, Desmond, III. 267. A Frenchman, who had formerly served me as valet de place.
1818. Gentl. Mag., Nov., 406/2. We chose rather to stroll out alone, than to put ourselves under the direction of a valet-de-place.
1886. Ruskin, Time & Tide, 62. I asked a valet-de-place at Meurice’s what people were generally going to [for amusement].
