Belleau Wood

American

[bel-oh, be-loh] / ˈbɛl oʊ, bɛˈloʊ /

noun

a forest in N France, NW of Château-Thierry: a memorial to the U.S. Marines who won a battle there 1918.

Belleau Wood British

/ bɛlo, ˈbɛləʊ /

noun

a forest in N France: site of a battle (1918) in which the US Marines halted a German advance on Paris

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He called the 1,800 marines killed during the bloody Battle of Belleau Wood in World War I “suckers” for dying in action.

From Salon

“We moved into the edge of Belleau Wood, and there facing us from the hill opposite, not more than a few hundred yards away, were the German positions,” Marine sergeant Melvin Krulewitch recalled.

From Literature

In retirement, Wiedhahn still runs a tour business, taking veterans to battle sites from Belleau Wood in France to, next summer, Iwo Jima.

From Washington Post

Marines buried there, from the pivotal 1918 battle of Belleau Wood, as “suckers” for having been killed.

From Washington Times

Marines who died in the World War I battle of Belleau Wood.

From Salon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023