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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

pennon en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpɛnən/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
  • (General-American) audio
  • (Southern-England) audio

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)”).

Meanings

  1. (historical) 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.
    • He has quarrelled with his neighbours, he has scourged his foes; / Vassal counts and princes follow where his pennon goes, / Long-descended valiant lords whom the vulture knows, […] 1863, Christina Rossetti, “A Royal Princess”, in Goblin Market, The Prince’s Progress and Other Poems, new edition, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1875, →OCLC, page 169:
    • High on his pointed lance his Pennon bore / His Cretan Fight, the conquer'd Minotaure: […] 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 5:
    • [I]n spite of a sort of screen intended to protect them from the wind, the flame of the torches streamed sideways into the air, like the unfurled pennon of a chieftain. 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter VII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 103:
    • He rejoined the Twenty-Second Lancers at Cape Town—all the squadrons together again for the first time in two years—and sailed for home. The new King himself reviewed them after their arrival, having granted them time enough to discard their khaki and put on again the glories of blue and gold, schapska and plume, lance pennons and embroidered saddle cloths. 1936 February, C[ecil] S[cott] Forester [pseudonym; Cecil Louis Troughton Smith], chapter II, in The General, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, →OCLC, page 15:
    • 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: […] 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30, page 227:
    • Nearly all the Norman spears were embellished with pennons of from two to five points[…]. 1909, Charles Henry Ashdown, “The Norman Period to 1180”, in British and Foreign Arms & Armour […], London; Edinburgh: T. C. & E. C. Jack […], →OCLC, pages 65–66:
    • 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. 1786, Francis Grose, Military Antiquities: Respecting a History of the English Army, from the Conquest to the Present Time, volume I, London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, footnote (s), page 205:
  2. (broadly) 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. 1816, [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in The Antiquary. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 184:
    • Barre Harry England, that ſvveepes through our Land / VVith Penons painted in the blood of Harflevv: / Ruſh on his Hoaſt, as doth the melted Snovv / Vpon the Valleyes, vvhoſe lovv Vaſſal Seat, / The Alpes doth ſpit, and void his rhevvme vpon. 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 80, column 1:
    • Precisely in the middle of the quadrangle were placed perpendicularly in the ground, a hundred or more slender, fresh-cut poles, stripped of their bark, and decorated at the end with a floating pennon of white tappa; the whole being fenced about with a little picket of canes. For what purpose these singular ornaments were intended I in vain endeavoured to discover. 1846 February 26, Herman Melville, chapter XXIII, in Narrative of a Four Months’ Residence among the Natives of a Valley of the Marquesas Islands; or, A Peep at Polynesian Life [Typee], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, part II, page 186:
    • There were about ten others [pavilions], all in divers hues, with their pennons fluttering from tall Venetian masts. 1880, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], chapter XVII, in Moths […], volume II, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 220:
    • Ceſar perceyuing the camp of hys enemyes to be empty, rolled vp his banners, and hid the penons and anteſignes of his ſouldiers, and conueying hys ſouldiers by ſlender companies out of hys greater camp into the leſſer, to thentent [the intent] it ſhould not be perceiued out of the towne, […] 1565, Caius Julius Caesar, “The Seventh Boke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The Eyght Bookes of Caius Julius Cæsar Conteyning His Martiall Exploytes in the Realme of Gallia and the Countries Bordering vppon the Same […], London: […] Willyam Seres, […], →OCLC, folio 206, verso:
    • In 1821 the hobby-horse could have a real mane and a pretty topknot of wire, pennons and bells but with no wheels at the back. 1971, Gwen White, “Animals, Birds, Noah’s Arks, Farms, Horses, Hobby-horses, Rocking-horses”, in Antique Toys and Their Background, London: Chancellor Press, →ISBN, page 69:
  3. (archaic, broadly, poetic) Synonym of pinion (“a wing”).
    • Behold the chariot of the Fairy Queen! / Celestial coursers paw the unyielding air; / Their filmy pennons at her word they furl, / And stop obedient to the reins of light: […] 1813, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Canto I”, in Queen Mab; […], London: […] P. B. Shelley, […], →OCLC, page 4:
    • And hark! I hear the famish'd brood of prey / Flap their lank pennons on the groaning wind! 1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Ode on the Departing Year”, in Poems, […], 2nd edition, London: […] N. Briggs, for J[oseph] Cottle, […], and Messrs. Robinsons, […], →OCLC, page 16:
    • Favonius gentle ſkims along the Grove, / And ſheds ſvveet Odors from his Pennons light. 1751, [Moses Mendez], “Summer”, in The Seasons. In Imitation of Spenser, London: […] S. Baker, […], →OCLC, stanza V, page 11:
    • [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, […] 1630, Henry Lord, “The Religion of the Persees. Chapter IV.”, in A Display of Two Forraigne Sects in the East Indies vizt: The Sect of the Banians the Ancient Natiues of India and the Sect of the Persees the Ancient Inhabitants of Persia together with the Religion and Maners of Each Sect […], London: […] [Thomas Cotes and Richard Cotes] for Francis Constable […], →OCLC, page 16:
    • Fluttring his pennons vain plumb dovvn he [Satan] drops / Ten thousand fadom deep, […] 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [G4], verso, lines 933–934:
  4. (broadly) A heraldic charge in the form of a pennon (sense 1).
  5. (broadly) Synonym of pennant (“a flag or streamer used on a ship”).
    • [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. 1886, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Emil’s Thanksgiving”, in Jo’s Boys, and How They Turned Out. A Sequel to “Little Men.”, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC, page 208:
    • Lincolne a Ship moſt neatly that vvas lim'd, / In all her Sailes vvith Flags and Pennons trim'd. 1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “The Battaile of Agincourt”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC, page 15:
    • 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. c. 1777 (date written), [Hannah] Cowley, The Maid of Arragon, a Tale, […] Part I, London: […] T. Spilsbury, for L. Davis, T[homas] Longman, J[ames] Dodsley, T[homas] Cadell, W. Owen, S. Crowder, T[homas] Davies, T. Becket, G. Kearsley, C[harles] Dilly, T[homas] Evans, Richardson and Urquhart, and R. Faulder, published 1780, →OCLC, page 7:
  6. (broadly, obsolete) A Knight Bachelor; also, a soldier who carries an ensign.
    • 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. a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Hartford-shire”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC, page 32:
    • The Duke of Brabant had .xxiiij. Banners and .lxxx. Pennons, and in all, .vij. thouſand men. 1569, Richard Grafton, “Edwarde the Thirde”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye, →OCLC, page 239:
  7. (broadly, obsolete, rare) An ornament that dangles or hangs down.
  8. (figuratively) Something resembling a pennon (sense 1).
    • There were little factory villages, too, or larger towns, with their tall chimneys, and their pennons of black smoke, their ugliness of brick-work, and their heaps of refuse matter from the furnace, which seems to be the only kind of stuff which Nature cannot take back to herself and resolve into the elements, when man has thrown it aside. 1863, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Pilgrimage to Old Boston”, in Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 163:
    • [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. 1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, pages 276–277:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
pennons Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

pennoned

Relateds

pennoncel

Synonyms

pinion · pennant

Translations (28)

sv bulsan (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · pl proporzec (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · nb banner (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · sv vimpel (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · de Wimpel (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · ca penó (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · el παράσειο (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · fi viiri (heraldic charge in the form of a pennon) · it insegna (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · ota پیكل (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · tl pindol (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · pl proporzec (heraldic charge in the form of a pennon) · nl wimpel (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · el επισείων (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · fr pennon (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · mi matairangi (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · de Lanzenwimpel (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · gl pendón (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · ru флажо́к (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · ota پینل (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · ca banderola (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · is oddveifa (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · bg вимпел (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · id panji (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · is vimpill (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · nb vimpel (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · ru вы́мпел (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this) · fi viiri (long, narrow flag or streamer, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance; something resembling this)

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