Cossack

Definition

A member or descendant of an originally (semi-)nomadic population of Eastern Europe and the adjacent parts of Asia, formed in part of runaways from neighbouring countries, that eventually settled in parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian tsarist Empire and constituted a military caste, particularly in areas now comprising southern Russia and Ukraine.

Etymology

From Middle French cosaque, from Middle Polish Kozak, from Middle Ukrainian коза́къ (kozák), from Kipchak *qazaq (whence Armeno-Kipchak խազախ (xazax)), from Old Turkic 𐰴𐰔𐰍𐰸 (*qazǧaq, “profiteer”), from 𐰴𐰔𐰍𐰣𐰢𐰴 (qazǧanmaq, “to acquire”), from 𐰴𐰔𐰢𐰴 (qazmaq, “to dig out”), from Proto-Turkic *kaŕ-. Doublet of Kazakh. First appears c. 1587 in the writings of George Turberville.

Example Sentences

• "1865 The Coal and Iron Police are authorized by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to maintain order in the coal fields. The miners referred to these private policemen as "Cossacks" and "Yellow Dogs.""
• "Southern and eastern European miners and other workers popularly referred to these hated troops as "Cossacks" because they acted like the similarly repressive troops used by the czar against workers in Russia during the Revolution of 1905 and on other occasions. ""
• "... Pinkertons, Cossacks, militia, spies, etc., speaks well for the men who represent us? If they were not true to their men, would all these forces be arrayed against us? Sure not! Let the weak rail and the malicious slur; the[…]"