▪ I. † ˈmartinet1 Obs.
Forms: 5 mart(e)net, mertenet(te, mertinet, 5–6 martynet, martnette, 7–9 martinet.
[a. F. martinet, dim. of the proper name Martin: see martin1.]
1. A name for the martin and the swift. (Cf. martlet2 1.) bank martinet, the sand martin.
| c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 437 Quayle sparow larke & litelle mertinet. 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. 159 Quayle, sparow, larke, martynet. 1530 Palsgr. 243/2 Martynet a byrde, martinet. 1544 Turner Avium Præcip. Hist. F 2, Minores [apodes] Angli uocant rok martinettes or chirche martnettes... Tertium genus, quod in ripis nidulatur, Angli a bank martnet..nominant. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Apus..a martnette, the seconde kind of swallowes. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 288 A third sort there is of these Swallows and Martinets. 1610 [see martlet2 2]. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornithol. 213 The Martin, or Martinet, or Martlet. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 147 Those Birds which have but short Feet, as the Swift and Martinet. 1736 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. 11, Apiastra,..a bird that eateth bees, called midwal, or martinet. 1833 Rennie G. Montagu's Ornith. Dict. 316 Martinet. A name for the Window Swallow. |
‖ 2. Hist. (See quot.)
| 1831 Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1852) 405 The martinets or scholars of the University [of Paris] not belonging to Colleges at all. 1885 Durh. Univ. Jrnl. VI. 104 ‘Day-students’ were well-known in medieval days in the University of Paris; and they were called ‘Martinets’ because they had their dwellings, so to speak, beneath the eaves. |
▪ II. † ˈmartinet2 Obs.
[ad. mod.L. martīnettus, martīnellus (Grillandus), dim. of Martīnus Martin.]
The demon who had the office of summoning witches to their assemblies. (Cf. Martinist 4.)
| 1609 B. Jonson Masque Queens B 2, Their litle Martin is he that calls them to their Conuenticles. Ibid. B 4 b, Which makes that their little Masters or Martinets, of whom I haue mention'd before, vse this forme in dismissing their conuentions. |
▪ III. martinet3
(ˈmɑːtɪnɪt)
Also 5 martymette, 6 martynette, 6–9 (sense 4) martnet.
[a. F. martinet in various unconnected senses, possibly belonging to etymologically distinct words.]
1. A military engine for throwing large stones. Obs. exc. Hist.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxx. 144 These four martynettes dyd cast out..great stones. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc viii. 259 Him passing on, A ponderous stone from some huge martinet, Struck. |
† 2. A water-mill for an iron forge (Cotgr.). Obs.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 229/2 A Martinett, irristiticus, & dicitur de Irriguo. |
† 3. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxiii. 137 Litel cartes called martymettes for to carye the mantelles & the tymbre that serueth for y⊇ engins from the shippes vnto the place where as thei shal be dressed. |
4. Naut. One of the leech-lines of a sail.
| 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. xxviii. 71 The Mariners and ship boyes, some in the fore⁓castell haling bollings, braces, and Martnets. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. v. 24 The top-saile martnets are made fast to the head of the top gallant mast. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., To Top the Martnets, is to hale them up. 1867 in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 471. |
‖ 5. A kind of cat-o'-nine-tails formerly used in French schools.
| 1881 P. B. Du Chaillu Land Midnight Sun II. 262, I saw..what resembled a policeman's club, at the end of which was a thick piece of leather, the whole reminding one of a martinet. |
▪ IV. martinet4
(ˈmɑːtɪˌnɛt)
[From the name of General Martinet, a French drill-master of the reign of Louis XIV.]
† 1. The system of drill invented by Martinet. Obs.
| 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer iii. i, What, d'ye find fault with Martinet?..'tis the best exercise in the World. |
2. A military or naval officer who is a stickler for strictness of discipline; hence in wider sense, a rigid disciplinarian.
| 1779 J. Moore View Soc. Fr. (1789) I. xxxix. 339 Let our Martinets say what they please. 1816 ‘Quiz’ Grand Master vii. 24 If a tyrannic low-bred Colonel Would be a martinet infernal. 1847 Disraeli Tancred ii. vii, She knew that the fine ladies..were moral martinets with respect to any one not born among themselves. 1868 Ld. Bloomfield in Lady G. Bloomfield Remin. (1883) II. xix. 320 He is considerate, strict but not a martinet. 1888 Poor Nellie 300 A true-born martinet never thinks he is at all severe. |
¶ b. One who drills with precision.
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxix. (1856) 254 We had drilled with knapsack and sledge, till we were almost martinets in our evolutions on the ice. |
3. attrib. passing into adj.
| 1814 Scott Wav. lii, A sort of martinet attention to the minutiæ and technicalities of discipline. 1821–30 Ld. Cockburn Mem. i. (1874) 26 Martinet dowagers and venerable beaux acted as masters and mistresses of ceremonies. 1873 H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. vii. 163 Protests like those made against martinet riding regulations..and against our ‘ridiculous drill-book’. 1903 A. Ainger Crabbe viii. 145 The martinet father and his poor crushed wife. |
Hence ˈmartinet v., to act the martinet; ˈmartinetdom, ˈmartinetship, the system of government by martinets; ˈmartiˌnetism, the spirit or action characteristic of a martinet; ˈmartiˌnet(t)ish a., having the characteristics of a martinet; whence martinet(t)ishness.
| 1827 Sporting Mag. XX. 107 Betwixt the system of martinetting too much and too little, the pro's and con's are nearly equal. 1827 Hor. Smith Tor Hill (1838) II. 236 No garrison had ever been governed with so rancorous and unrelenting a martinetship. 1835 Blackw. Mag. XXXVIII. 322 He called them ‘discipline’—his boast being martinetism. 1852 Jerdan Autobiog. I. vii. 53 The martinettish General had..enough ado to keep his Aides under military discipline. 1866 Cornh. Mag. Nov. 554 Educated in the traditions of military martinetdom which Frederick the Great had handed down to his successors as the basis of Prussia's greatness. 1878 R. H. Hutton Scott i. 4 Sir Walter's father reminds one, in not a few of the formal and rather martinetish traits which are related of him, of the father of Goethe. 1882 Pall Mall G. 13 Sept. 3 Disgust at the martinettishness of their commanding officer. 1887 Standard 16 May 5/3 A martinetism..repugnant to the English character. |