Definition of "janissary" []

• A member of a group of elite, highly loyal supporters. (noun)
• A soldier in an elite Turkish guard organized in the 14th century and abolished in 1826. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Dynamo manages to get out of his jam, but the additional complications of a janissary of unknown morality who wants to kiss and/or kill him makes his life even more unusual."
• "I have fished you out of the water, I have brought you to life again, you belong to me as the creature belongs to the creator, as the efrits of fairytales belong to the genii, as the janissary to the Sultan, as the soul to the body."
• "It is some time ago since the wealthy Mahomet demanded in marriage the daughter of the janissary"