Zouave

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A member of a French infantry unit, originally composed of Algerian recruits, characterized by colorful uniforms and precision drilling.
• noun A member of a group patterned after the French Zouaves, especially a member of such a unit of the Union Army in the US Civil War.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A soldier belonging to a corps of light infantry in the French army, distinguished for their dash, intrepidity, and hardihood, and for their peculiar drill and showy Oriental uniform.
• noun A member of one of the volunteer regiments of the Union army in the American civil war (1861-5) which adopted the name and to some extent imitated the dress of the French Zouaves.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun One of an active and hardy body of soldiers in the French service, originally Arabs, but now composed of Frenchmen who wear the Arab dress.
• noun Hence, one of a body of soldiers who adopt the dress and drill of the Zouaves, as was done by a number of volunteer regiments in the army of the United States in the Civil War, 1861-65.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun military One of an active and hardy body of soldiers in the French service, originally Kabyle, but now composed of Frenchmen who wear the Kabyle dress.
• noun military Hence, one of a body of soldiers who adopt the dress and drill of the zouaves in French service, as was done by a number of volunteer regiments in the army of the United States in the Civil War, 1861-65.