Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations

Click to move up the list of words
quintuplet
quintuplicate
quip
quipster
quipu
quire
quirk
quirt
quisling
quit
quitch grass
quitclaim
quite
Quito
quitrent
quits
quittance
Click to move down the list of words
Print Preview
See pronunciation key
Search for "quisling" in all of MSN Encarta
E-mail this entry
Download the MSN Encarta Right-Click Dictionary

quisling

quis·ling [ kwízzling ] (plural quis·lings)


noun 
Definition:
 
traitor: a traitor, especially somebody who collaborates with an occupying force

[Mid-20th century. After Vidkun Quisling, puppet premier of Norway during Nazi occupation]

quis·ling·ism noun

Word History

Vidkun Quisling was a Norwegian politician who from 1933 led the National Union Party, the Norwegian fascist party. (Quisling was not his real name - he was originally Abraham Lauritz Jonsson.) When the Germans invaded Norway in 1940, he gave them active support, urging his fellow Norwegians not to resist them, and in 1942 he was installed by Hitler as a puppet premier. In 1945 he was shot for treason.

Advertisement

MSN Encarta Premium
Upgrade your Encarta experience
Also on Encarta
Also on Sympatico / MSN
Encarta RSS Feeds
© 2008 Bell Inc., Microsoft Corporation and their contributors. All rights reserved.