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pennon

noun
/ˈpɛnən/US

Etymology

From Late Middle English pennon, penoun (“long narrow flag attached to a lance or used in other contexts; one who bears a pennon, knight bachelor; plume of feathers; strip around the edge of a shield”), from Anglo-Norman penun (“feather of an arrow”), penoun (“flag attached to a lance”), Middle French pennon, penoun, and Old French penon (“flag attached to a lance”) (modern French pennon), from penne (“feather; wing”) + -on (diminutive suffix). Penne is inherited from Latin penna (“feather (especially a flight feather), pinion; wing”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly (in the sense of spreading out wings)”).

  1. derived from *peth₂-✻ — “to spread out; to fly (in the sense of spreading out wings)”
  2. derived from penna — “feather (especially a flight feather), pinion; wing”
  3. derived from penon — “flag attached to a lance”
  4. derived from pennon
  5. derived from penun — “feather of an arrow”
  6. inherited from pennon

Definitions

  1. A long, narrow flag or streamer, often swallowtailed or triangular, usually hung at the…

    A long, narrow flag or streamer, often swallowtailed or triangular, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance, originally the ensign of a knight under the rank of knight banneret, and later of a lancer regiment.

    • Her yellovv lockes criſped, like golden vvyre, / About her ſhoulders vveren looſely ſhed, / And vvhen the vvinde emongſt them did inſpyre, / They vvaued like a penon vvyde diſpred / And lovv behinde her backe vvere ſcattered: […]
    • High on his pointed lance his Pennon bore / His Cretan Fight, the conquer'd Minotaure: […]
    • The pennon vvas the proper enſign of a bachelor or ſimple knight. Du Freſne ſhevvs that even eſquires might bear pennons, provided they could bring a ſufficient ſuite of vaſſals into the field.

  2. Any banner or flag.

    • [S]he has spread out that vile pennon or banner of womankind, like all the rest of her sex, to allure her votaries to death and headlong ruin.

  3. Synonym of pinion (“a wing”).

    • [S]odainly there descended before him, as his face was bent towards the earth, an Angell, whose wings had glorious Pennons, and whose face glistered as the beames of the Sunne, […]
    • Fluttring his pennons vain plumb dovvn he [Satan] drops / Ten thousand fadom deep, […]
    • Favonius gentle ſkims along the Grove, / And ſheds ſvveet Odors from his Pennons light.
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. A heraldic charge in the form of a pennon (sense 1).

    2. Synonym of pennant (“a flag or streamer used on a ship”).

      • Lincolne a Ship moſt neatly that vvas lim'd, / In all her Sailes vvith Flags and Pennons trim'd.
      • Fair Commerce vvav'd her pennons in our ports; / The fertile plough ſubdu'd our ſterile fields; / Our granaries, like thoſe of Egypt, drevv / From neighb'ring countries, riches and renovvn.
      • [A]s his eye swept the horizon, clear against the rosy sky shone the white sails of a ship, so near that they could see the pennon at her mast-head and black figures moving on the deck.

    3. A Knight Bachelor

      A Knight Bachelor; also, a soldier who carries an ensign.

      • The Duke of Brabant had .xxiiij. Banners and .lxxx. Pennons, and in all, .vij. thouſand men.
      • Surely he [George Purient] vvas a man of merit, being Penon or Enſign-bearer to one Eſquire, of the body to three ſucceſſive Kings, and M[aste]r of the Horſe to one of their Queens, to vvhom his vvife vvas chief Lady of Honour.

    4. An ornament that dangles or hangs down.

    5. Something resembling a pennon (sense 1).

      • [A] pillar of dark smoke, which ascended from the chimnies of the donjon, and spread its long dusky pennon through the clear ether, indicated that it was inhabited.

The neighborhood

Derived

pennoned

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for pennon. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA