Napoleon

Pronunciation

• IPA: /nəˈpəʊlɪən/Rhymes: -əʊliÉ™n

Origin

From the French Imperial forename Napoleon, usually with reference to Napoleon Bonaparte.

Full definition of napoleon

Noun

1. A gold coin worth twenty francs issued by Napoleon I; a twenty-franc coin.
• 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Red-Headed League (Norton 2005 p.67)We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources, and borrowed, for that purpose, thirty thousand napoleons from the Bank of France.
2. A pastry of French origin, otherwise known as a custard slice, a vanilla slice, a mille-feuille.

• 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody Chapter 1, Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy … distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.