Dictionary

escutcheon en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ɪˈskʌt͡ʃən/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sek-? Proto-Indo-European *-éyti Proto-Indo-European *skey-der. Proto-Indo-European *skoy-tó-m Proto-Italic *skoitom? Latin scūtum Old French escutder. Old French escu Proto-Indo-European *-ōder. Proto-Indo-European *-Hōder.? Latin -ō Frankishinflu. Old French -on Anglo-Norman escuchonbor. Middle English scochon English escutcheon From Middle English scochon, from Anglo-Norman escuchon, Old French escusson (French écusson), ultimately from Latin scutum (“shield”). Related to scutum, scute, scudo, escudo, and écu.

Meanings

1. The shield on which a coat of arms is displayed, or, by extension, the coat of arms itself.
   • He dies: his very coffin is comfortable; the very vault of his ancestors is sheltered; a funeral sermon is preached in his honour; and escutcheon and marble tablet do their best to preserve his memory. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Fête at Sir Robert Walpole’s”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 33:
   • And in the meanwhile, Society shivered a little feverishly, filled now with the scions of those who had come over with the Jewish and American Conquests. Escutcheons were becoming valueless, how sinister soever the blots and clots upon them. 1922, Michael Arlen, “1/5/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
   • Meronyms: field, charge, emblem
2. A small shield used to charge a larger one.
3. The pattern of distribution of hair upon the pubic mound.
   • The hair becomes darker and coarser during pubic hair stage 3, spreading over the pubic symphysis with gradual progression to a full female escutcheon. 2013, Jerome F. Strauss III, Robert L. Barbieri, Yen & Jaffe's Reproductive Endocrinology (page 379)
4. A marking upon the back of a cow's udder and the space above it (the perineum), formed by the hair growing upward or outward instead of downward. It was once taken as an index of milking qualities.
   • The milk-mirror, or escutcheon, is formed by the hair above the udder, extending upwards between the thighs, […] 1867, Charles Louis Flint, Milch cows and dairy farming:
5. The part of a ship's stern where its name is displayed.
6. A decorative or protective plate or bezel designed to fill the gap between a switch, pipe, valve, control knob, etc., and the surface from which it protrudes.
7. The insignia around a doorknob's exterior hardware or a door lock's cosmetic plate.
8. The depression behind the beak of certain bivalves; the ligamental area.

Forms

Deriveds

escutcheoned · blot on the escutcheon · escutcheon pin · inescutcheon · escutcheon of pretence · blotch on the escutcheon · escutcheonectomy

Synonyms

shield · milk mirror

Translations (25)

frs wóópenskild (coat of arms) · pt escudo (coat of arms) · de Wappenschild (coat of arms) · hu pajzs (coat of arms) · fi vaakuna (coat of arms) · pl tarcza herbowa (coat of arms) · nl wapenschild (coat of arms) · mk штит (coat of arms) · fy wapenskyld (coat of arms) · es escudo (coat of arms) · it blasone (coat of arms) · pl płytka (plate or bezel to fill the gap around a protuberance) · fi peitelevy (plate or bezel to fill the gap around a protuberance) · it stemma (coat of arms) · el θυρεός (coat of arms) · gl escudo (coat of arms) · ca escussó (coat of arms) · pt escudete (plate or bezel to fill the gap around a protuberance) · fr écusson (plate or bezel to fill the gap around a protuberance) · fr écusson (coat of arms) · it scudo (coat of arms) · nl sleutelschild (plate or bezel to fill the gap around a protuberance) · es blasón (coat of arms) · sv vapensköld (coat of arms) · da våbenskjold (coat of arms)