Or·lé·ans (ôr-l -ä  ) A city of north-central France on the Loire River south-southwest of Paris. Founded by Celts and conquered by Julius Caesar in 52 b.c., the city was taken by Clovis I in a.d. 498 and became the center of the Frankish kingdom of Orléans in 511. It became a principal residence of the Capetian kings in the tenth century. The siege of Orléans by the English (1428-1429) was lifted by troops led by Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orléans. Population: 114,000. |
Orléans [ɔːˈlɪənz (French) ɔrleɑ̃]
n
(Placename) a city in N central France, on the River Loire: famous for its deliverance by Joan of Arc from the long English siege in 1429; university (1305); an important rail and road junction. Pop.: 112 833 (1999)
Orléans2
n
1. (Biographies / Orléans, Duc d' (1394-1465) M, French, WRITING: poet, MISC: father of Louis XII) Charles (ʃarl), Duc d'Orléans. 1394-1465, French poet; noted for the poems written during his imprisonment in England; father of Louis XII
2. (Biographies / Orléans, Duc d' (1747-1793), French, POLITICS: nobleman, POLITICS: revolutionary) Louis Philippe Joseph (lwi filip ʒozɛf), Duc d'Orléans, known as Philippe Égalité (after 1792). 1747-93, French nobleman, who supported the French Revolution and voted for the death of his cousin, Louis XVI, but was executed after his son, the future king Louis-Philippe, defected to the Austrians
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