maquis

Definition

Dense Mediterranean coastal scrub.

Etymology

Borrowed from French maquis, from Corsican machja (related to Italian macchia), ultimately from Latin macula. Doublet of macula.

Example Sentences

• "The older man claims to find a measure of peace in Corsica’s wild landscape, and as Mitchell explores the foothills of maquis, fragrant with “the sharp resinous smell of laurel rose and thyme,” he too succumbs."
• "By this time O.S. membership numbered some 4,500, and many of those who escaped imprisonment either fled abroad or formed the nucleus of a growing maquis in the more inaccessible parts of the country."
• "For many weeks after I finished Bodyguard of Lies, Alan Turing stuck in my mind. He seemed so incongruous a figure to be mixed up with the cut-throat maquis and sinister double-agents who populated the rest of the book."