‖ Vichy
(viʃi, anglicized ˈviːʃiː)
[See def.]
1. The name of a town in the department of Allier in Central France, used attrib. and ellipt. to designate a mineral water obtained from springs there.
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade s.v., Vichy-water. 1876 Nature XIV. 320/2 Vichy waters, from a physiological and hygienic point of view. 1882 Harvard Lampoon 26 Jan. 87/2 Vichy and Seltzer possessed of limpidity. 1903 Smart Set IX. 16 He..mixed the contents of the phial in a glass half-filled with vichy. |
2. Used to denote the government of France which operated from Vichy (1940–44) in collaboration with the Germans; freq. attrib. and in Comb. Also transf. and fig.
| 1941 [see collaboration 2]. 1942 ‘G. Orwell’ in Partisan Rev. Mar.–Apr. 159 Both Vichy and the Germans have found it quite easy to keep a fa{cced}ade of ‘French culture’ in existence. 1942 ‘M. Home’ House of Shade vi. 96 Vichy French territory had been entered at Bardai. 1949 Koestler Promise & Fulfilment i. vii. 76 When, in 1941, British troops invaded Vichy-held Syria, they needed a vanguard of Commandos. 1965 B. Sweet-Escott Baker Street Irregular ii. 54 Efforts to start something in Morocco, then occupied by the Vichy French, had been a failure. 1966 G. Greene Comedians i. iii. 69 During the war..I served in the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office, supervising the style of our propaganda to Vichy territory. 1970 R. Wingate Lord Ismay iv. 59 The German ability to use Vichy-controlled Syria as a route for her aircraft. 1979 P. Way Sunrise xiv. 146 The jail..had been convent no. 787 of the Poor Clares under West Africa's Vichy régime. 1980 Times 27 May 4/2 He went on to claim there was a ‘Vichy mentality’ in parts of the Foreign Office. The Home Office was ‘stuffed with reactionaries’. 1981 M. Warner Joan of Arc xiii. 263 Maurras's adherence to both Vichy and Joan of Arc. |
Hence ˈVichyist, a supporter of the Vichy government.
| 1943 Rev. Foreign Press (Foreign Office Research Dept.) 23 Aug. 105/1 (heading) ‘Combat’ and ‘Liberté’ demand severe measures against all Vichyists. 1958 Times 3 Dec. 8/5 M. Soustelle was in charge of intelligence and espionage, first against occupying Germans and then against Vichyists and Communists. |