a. (adv.) and sb. [f. FRENCH a. + -Y.]
A. adj. Characteristic of what is French (as opposed to English, etc.); French-like.
1826. H. N. Coleridge, West Indies, 148. St. Pierre is a pretty and civilized town…. It is neat and Frenchy, and it cannot be more.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Lit., Wks. (Bohn), II. 103. He [the Englishman] must be treated with sincerity and reality; with muffins, and not the promise of muffins; and prefers his hot chop, with perfect security and convenience in the eating of it, to the chances of the amplest and Frenchiest bill of fare, engraved on embossed paper.
Hence Frenchily adv.; Frenchiness.
1881. Lit. World (Boston), 21 May, 179/2. This [book] is an excellent piece of work, true to its title. Its strain is Frenchily enthusiastic.
1890. Pall Mall G., 29 Jan., 3/3. This worship of Frenchiness I would brand as … unworthy of cultured Englishwomen.
B. sb. A disrespectful name for a Frenchman.
1883. Miss Yonge, Stray Pearls, II. xvi. 267. The squires had begun by calling him Frenchy, and sneering at his lack of taste and skill in their sports; but they came to him whenever they had a knotty point to disentangle in law or justice.
1895. Daily News, 27 Dec., 7/3. Of what nationality is he, then?—Witness: Why, I think he’s a Frenchy.
