Vivandière

Vivandière, in the French and some other continental armies, a female attendant in a regiment, who sells spirits and other comforts, ministers to the sick, marches with the corps, and contrives to be a universal favourite. From the Algerian campaigns onward the vivandière wore a modified (short-petticoated) form of the regimental uniform; but this arrangement has been forbidden by government. Familiar from Ouida's Under Two Flags, the Daughter of the Regiment, &c., the vivandière has been largely superseded in her functions by the Cantinière (see CANTEEN).