louis

name

1. A male given name from French.

   “'It is hardly a week since you called me your future husband, and treated me as such; now I am once more the tutor for you: I am addressed as Mr. Moore, and Sir; your lips have forgotten Louis.' "'No, Louis, no: it is an easy, liquid name; not soon forgotten.'”

2. (uncommon)A female given name.
3. (rare)A surname.

   “Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis have been marching to their own choreographic drummer for a long time now.”

noun

1. (alt-of, historical)Alternative letter-case form of louis: various gold and silver coins issued by the French kings.

   “It was a strange collection, like Billy Bones’s hoard for the diversity of coinage, but so much larger and so much more varied that I think I never had more pleasure than in sorting them. English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double guineas and moidores and sequins, […]”

2. (historical)Any gold or silver coin issued by the French kings from Louis XIII to Louis XVI and bearing their image on the obverse side, particularly the gold louis d'ors, originally a French form of the Spanish doubloon but varying in value between 10 and 24 livres.
3. (historical)The louis d'or constitutionnel, a 24-livre gold coin issued by the First French Republic.
4. (historical, informal)The franc germinal or napoleon, a similar gold coin issued by Napoleon and bearing his image on the obverse, worth 20 francs.