gorget
Etymology

From Middle English gorget, from Old French gorgete, from gorge ("throat").

Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈɡɔːdʒɪt/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈɡoɹ.d͡ʒɪt/, /ˈɡoɹ.d͡ʒɛt/, /ˈɡoɹ.d͡ʒət/, /ˌɡoɹˈʒeɪ/,
Noun

gorget (plural gorgets)

  1. (historical) A piece of armour protecting the throat and/or the upper part of the chest.
    Synonyms: neckplate, hausse-col, gorgerin, gorgerette
    • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC ↗:
      About his neck a threefold gorget, / As rough as trebled leathern target
    • 1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], →OCLC ↗:
      Unfix the gorget's iron clasp.
    • 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 500:
      Renly lifted his chin to allow Brienne to fasten his gorget in place.
  2. (historical) A crescent-shaped ornamental metal plate suspended around the neck from the crescent's points by a length of chain or ribbon, used to indicate rank or authority and was worn as part of a dress military uniform by officers.
  3. (historical) A type of women's clothing covering the neck and breast; a wimple.
    Synonyms: gorgerette
  4. An ornament for the neck; a necklace, ornamental collar, torque etc.
  5. (surgery) A cutting instrument used in lithotomy.
    Synonyms: gorgeret
  6. A grooved instrument used in performing various operations; called also blunt gorget.
  7. (zoology) A crescent-shaped coloured patch on the neck of a bird or mammal.
    • 1917, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:
      There was […] the golden-winged woodpecker, with his crimson crest, his broad black gorget, and splendid plumage […]
  8. (UK, dialect, Cornwall) A hake caught in a net set for other fish.
Translations Translations Translations


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