maquis

Noun

maquis (uncountable)

1. Dense Mediterranean coastal scrub.
   • 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.2007 May 27, Alida Becker, “Season in the Sun”, in New York Times
2. (historical) The French resistance movement during World War II, or other similar movements elsewhere.
   • 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.1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 75
   • 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.1983 December 3, Gary Ralph, “No Security for Those Who Never Had It”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 20, page 5