Dictionary

passguard en · NOUN

Etymology

From French passe-garde, used with the meaning "armor projecting up from a shoulder-piece" since a least the 1800s. It has been suggested that the application of the term (in both English and French) to neck guards is, however, an error, and that the original meaning was "elbow armor".

Meanings

1. (historical) An L-shaped piece of armor worn over one arm (typically the left arm), which generally kept it in a bent position and protected it during jousts.
   • Upon a like horse, one armour cap-a-pe, engraven with a ragged staffe, made for the Earl of Leicester, a mainguard, passguard, manifare and gauntlet; the horse's furniture being a chafron, crinet, and breastplate of the ... 1896, Great Britain. Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Eleventh Report: Appendix. The manuscripts of the Earl of Dartmouth, page 5:
   • […] fastened to it by a clasp at the back and a linch pin in front; the passguard, or elbow-piece; and the bridle-gauntlet. 1902, Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, page 156:
   • The passguard is much larger than that worn in jousting at the tilt, reaching nearly to the left shoulder. 2013, R. Coltman Clephan, The Medieval Tournament, Courier Corporation, →ISBN:
2. A ridge or an additional plate on a shoulder piece, to turn the blow of a weapon away from the neck or joint of the armor.
   • Epaulières re-appear on the shoulders, but pauldrons are also used, with the inner parts turned up: these are called passguards. The coutes are larger than we often have them at this period. […] 1894, David Herbert Somerset Cranage, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire:
   • -Cuirass rounded and projecting 1846, Lincolnshire Architectural and Archaeological Society (LINCOLN), The first (second, fourth-sixth) report of the Lincolnshire Society for the Encouragement of Ecclesiastical Architecture, page 38
   • The knight's head rests upon his tilting-helmet, under which is a cushion. The helmet bears the crest an elephant's head […] The epaulières have ridges called passguards to protect the neck, and upon the breast ... 1886, The Midland Naturalist: Journal of the Midland Union of Natural History Societies with which is Incorporated the Entire Transactions of the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society, page 108:

Forms

Coordinates

grand guard · gardbrace

Synonyms

passegarde · neck guard · pikeguard · swordbreaker · garde-collet · pasguard · haute piece

Translations (2)

de Brechrand (piece extending upward on shoulder armor to protect the neck) · fr passe-garde (piece extending upward on shoulder armor to protect the neck)