> as lemmas
malgré eux
a. malgré lui
Brit. 
/ˌmalɡreɪ ˈlwiː/
, /ˌmalɡreɪ ˈlwiː/U.S. /ˌmælˌɡreɪ ˈlwi/
: in spite of himself, herself, or itself. malgré elle (also malgré eux, malgré moi, etc.): in spite of herself (themselves, myself, etc.)./ˌmælˌɡreɪ ˈlwi/ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > opposition > in the face of or in opposition [phrase] > defiance
to one's face, teethc1000
in spite of (despite, maugre, etc.) one's teethc1230
in the teeth1297
maugre a person's head (also beard, cheeks, eyes, heart, neck, teeth, will, etc.)c1325
maugre his nosec1325
despitec1380
in (the) maugre (of)c1450
in spite of (also maugre) a person's beard?1537
in the teeth of1792
malgré lui1796
1703 S. Centlivre (title) Love's contrivance: or le medecin malgre lui.]
1796 G. Colman Iron Chest p. v A fever..drove me, malgré moi, to bed.
1830 C. C. F. Greville Mem. (1874) II. xi. 38 This was my first dinner at Dudley's, brought about malgré lui by Lady Glengall.
1843 W. M. Thackeray Confessions of G. Fitz-Boodle in Fraser's Mag. Mar. 359/2 We obliged the Frenchman to drink malgré lui.
1883 G. Bloomfield Reminisc. II. xiii. 45 They say that, malgré eux, they cannot yield.
1904 P. G. Wodehouse Gold Bat xiii. 142 He could imagine their feelings when the prodigal strolled into their midst—an old Wrykinian malgré lui.
1932 Mind 41 24 He [sc. Callicles] stands revealed as a moralist malgré lui.
1943 W. Lewis Let. 15 Aug. (1963) 363 As you know I am here malgré moi; but I attempt to put to some serious use my prolonged immersion in this N. American civilisation.
1963 Economist 28 Dec. 1318/1 These central bankers..have created, almost malgré eux, a code of practice.
1970 Guardian 11 Dec. 10/6 The weight of the acting fell mostly on Anna Cropper as the fertility goddess malgré elle.
1988 Nature 12 May 125/1 In the end, the government's role had proved crucial: malgré lui, the state had become one of the main patrons of the scientific estate.
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