Dictionary

pauldron en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɔl.dɹən/

Etymology

From earlier pouldron, poleron, paleron from Middle English polron, palerns, pollerons. This may have been borrowed from Old French paleron, which derives from elements corresponding to French pale (“blade (of a shovel, etc)”) + -eron but was semantically influenced by Old French espaule (“shoulder”) (whence French épaule). Alternatively, some references derive the Middle English word from Middle French espalleron, espauleron, from Old French espaule. Although a form with d at the end is found in Middle English (polrondys, compare Early Modern English polrynges c. 1550), the interpolation of a d between the l and the r dates to the 1500s; the d, and the preference since the early 1800s for the spelling and pronunciation with paul- rather than poul-, may be due to the influence of spaulder.

Meanings

1. (historical) A component of plate armor that protects the shoulder, generally covering more than a spaulder, also protecting the armpit and overlapping with other armor over the upper chest and back.
   • […] a pair of pauldrons with the light horizontal bar which in later years developed into the high neckguard of the sixteenth century; numbers of gauntlets, visors of helmets, and other pieces, the handling of which is a sheer joy […] 1976, Apollo: A Journal of the Arts:
   • Upon the espaulieres are placed pauldrons, also ridged, with the edges turned up, so as to form the prototypes of pass-guards. 1834, Matthew Holbeche Bloxam, A Glimpse at the Monumental Architecture and Sculpture of Great Britain from the Earliest Period to the Eighteenth Century:
   • This rim involved a raised rolled edge on the rerebrace that was inserted into a raised lip on the lower lame of the pauldron. 2013, Paul F. Walker, The History of Armour, 1100-1700:
   • […] the elbow cop or coudiere for the elbow; and the rerebrace or arriere-bras for the upper arm. The shoulder cop, pauldron or epauliere which covered the shoulder, and often a large part of the breast and back, was usually considered a part of the arm guard. 2004, Kevin Grace, Tom White, Cincinnati Cemeteries: The Queen City Underground, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 142:

Forms

Coordinates

espauliere · spaulder · epauliere

Relateds

epaulette · vambrace

Translations (9)

pt ombreira (plate armor that protects the shoulders) · bg нараменник (plate armor that protects the shoulders) · es hombrera (plate armor that protects the shoulders) · sa अंसत्र (plate armor that protects the shoulders) · de Achsel (plate armor that protects the shoulders) · uk нараменники (plate armor that protects the shoulders) · uk наплічники (plate armor that protects the shoulders) · fr épaulière (plate armor that protects the shoulders) · ru напле́чники (plate armor that protects the shoulders)