A nickname for Napoleon III. The word is compounded of the first syllables Bou[logne], Stra[sbourg], Pa[ris], and alludes to his escapades in 1836 and 1840.
(E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898)
The term/criticism was invented by Victor Hugo in the poem Châtiments published in 1853.
Napoleon III was the subject of a number of nicknames, including, “Badinguet”, “Boustrapa”, “Man of December, “Man of Sedan”, “Man of Silence”, “Rantipole”, and “Verhuel”.