[F. vivandier masc. (= Sp. vivandero, Pg. vivandeiro, It. vivandiere) a supplier of victuals or provisions, f. pop.L. *vivanda for vivenda: see VIAND1. Cf. VIANDER1.] In the French or other continental armies: A person who supplies victuals to troops in the field; a sutler.
The feminine vivandière occurs freq. in 19th-cent. works relating to Continental wars.
1591. Garrard’s Art Warre, 13. Another doth visite Vivandiers and Victualers (if any follow the Campe).
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2694/2. They seized several hundreds of Vivandier’s Boats.
1802. James, Milit. Dict.
1813. Wellington, in Gurwood, Desp. (1838), X. 321. Operations so near to the enemy, as that the vivandiers and other attendants on the troops cannot with safety remain near them.
