Well attestedNamed from the place
Dunkirk spirit
noun · first attested 1940s
Britain's favorite morale phrase commemorates a retreat, not a victory.
Stubborn collective cheerfulness and improvisation in the face of disaster, in British usage.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1940s
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Dunkirk
- In English
Dunkirk spirit
It refers to the evacuation of more than 300,000 Allied troops from the beaches at Dunkirk in northern France in the spring of 1940, carried out partly by civilian small boats. Churchill warned at the time that wars are not won by evacuations; the phrase became shorthand for pulling together anyway.
France
All 57 entries 56 more words from France
denimThe cloth is named for Nîmes, not for jeans.NîmesbayonetThe blade is traditionally tied to a port in the Basque country.BayonnechampagneThe drink is a place-name first, a party word second.ChampagnecognacThe brandy is the town’s name in a glass.CognaccayenneThe heat is named for a capital on the Atlantic coast of South America.CayennelimousineThe luxury car is named for a cloak from Limousin.LimogesroquefortThe blue cheese is a village in the Aveyron.Roquefort-sur-SoulzoncamembertThe cheese is a Norman village.Camembert