Definition of "French"

Ne mowe we alle Latin wite...Ne French...

c. 1390, Robert Grosseteste, translating Chateau d'Amour as The Castle of Love, ll. 25 ff.

I... wolde also be bolde in such french as is peculiare to the lawys of this realme, to leue it wyth them in wrytynge to.

1533, Thomas More, The Debellacyon of Salem & Bizance, fol. 96

I could speak but little French.

1720, Daniel Defoe, Memoirs of a Cavalier, page 13

Thus, complementary to the French of France, the Quebecois (and in a lesser degree the Frenches of Africa, Swiss French, etc.) would constitute languages in their own right.

1991, Michael Clyne, Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations, Walter de Gruyter, page 169

Almost three quarters of the population 65 and older reported speaking French.

1997, Albert Valdman, French and Creole in Louisiana, page 29

Although he would spend the rest of his life in France, Picasso never mastered the language, and during those early years he was especially self-conscious about how bad his French was.

2004, Jack Flam, Matisse and Picasso: The Story of Their Rivalry and Friendship, page 18

The Frenches of England remain as working languages in the different registers of various occupational communities and for particular social rituals. Beyond the fifteenth century, French is a much less substantial presence in England, though […]

2013, Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, Language and Culture in Medieval Britain: The French of England, C.1100-c.1500, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, page 361

[Racine's] language is the language of the times, and that of the purest sort; so that his French is reckoned a standard.

1742 April 4, R. West, letter to Thomas Gray

The enraged headsman spares no 'bad French' in explaining his motives.

1845, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, Adventure in New Zealand, volume I, page 327

Cameron: Pardon my French, but you're an asshole!

1986, John Hughes, Ferris Bueller's Day Off'

The book... is a welcome change from theory-infected academic discourse, pardon my French.

2005 May 29, New York Times Book Review, page 12

[…] to breake the necke of the wicked purposes & plots of the French […]

1579, Francesco Guicciardini as, translated by Geoffrey Fenton, The Historie of Guicciardin, page 378

Such is the nature and complexion of the frenches, that they are worth nothing, but at the first push.

1653, François Rabelais, translated by Thomas Urquhart, Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, volume I, page 214

On the way, scouts reported that some French were heading toward them across the ice.

2002, Jeremy Thornton, The French and Indian War, page 14

French--[sic] to do the French--Cocksucking; and, inversely, to tongue a woman.

1916, Henry Nathaniel Cary, The Slang of Venery and Its Analogues‎, volume I, page 94

You can be whipped or caned... or you can have French for another pound.

1968, Bill Turner, Sex Trap, page 64

Always use condoms with Greek (anal intercourse), straight sex (vaginal intercourse, fucking), French (oral sex).

1986 May 6, Semper Floreat, page 34

‘French’—still used by prostitutes as a term for oral sex.

1996 October 13, Observer, page 25

Tearle replied that gin-and-French and virginian cigarettes would do for him.

1930, Ethel Mannin, Confessions & Impressions, page 177

He was drinking double gins with single Frenches in them.

1967, Michael Francis Gilbert, The Dust & the Heat, page 14

That must have hurt, especially because you knew the French children weren’t even trying. “Uh, go on, play weez your seellee nambeurs. Zey tell you nosseeng of ze true naytcheur of ze soula. I’ll weepa for you.”

2015 May 3, “Standardized Testing”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 2, episode 12, John Oliver (actor), via HBO

She was a tall redhead, with a shape that would make you jump for joy and a reputation as the best French girl in the place.

1946, Mezz Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues, New York: Random House, page 23

Even before I thought about what I was doing we Frenched and kissed with tongues.

1995, Jack Womack, Random Acts of Senseless Violence, page 87