pavon

See also: Pavon and pavón

English

Etymology

From Latin pavo (“peacock”).

Noun

pavon (plural pavons)

1. A small triangular flag, especially one attached to a knight's lance; a pennon.
   • 1890, Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company, page 325:

     High silken pavilions or colored marquees, shooting up from among the crowd of meaner dwellings, marked where the great lords and barons of Leon and Castile displayed their standards, while over the white roofs, as far as eye could reach, the waving of ancients, pavons, pensils, and banderoles, with flash of gold and glow of colors, proclaimed that all the chivalry of Iberia were mustered in the plain beneath them.

   • 1894, George Henry Preble, History of the Flag of the United States of America, page 5:

     In modern parlance, under the generic name of flag is included standards, ancients or ensigns, banners, bannerolls, pavons, colors, streamers, pennons, pennoncelles, gonfanons, guidons , coronetts or coronells (hence the title of colonel), and the like.

   • 1905, Bodleian Library, A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, page xix:

     Another flag, a pavon, is bendy of 10 arg. and az . which is a Mountford, Montford, or Montfort coat. This pavon occurs again, except that the number of bends seems to be 11 or 12: such variations are of no moment, as there is another Mountfort coat bendy of 12 or and az.

   • 1963, Julian Franklyn, Shield and Crest: An Account of the Art and Science of Heraldry, page 183:

     Some of these books contain illustrations of this flag; nevertheless there is not, nor has there ever been, bunting of any shape or size named a pavon.

   • 2012, Terence Wise, Medieval European Armies, page 39:

     The pavon shape was popular in the fourteenth century.

2. Alternative form of pavane.
   • 1845, Anna Eliza Bray, Novels and Romances, page 46:

     I danced with him a pavon to please my godmother, who would have it; though I do hate with all my heart that slow solemn dance; a country round, for steps and spirit, is worth it a hundred times over.

   • 1864, Agnes Strickland, Lives of the queens of England, from the Norman conquest, page 127:

     Meantime, the king and his band having finished their stately "pavons" and " corantos high " with the utmost success, his majesty, in high good-humour, bade the ladies come forward and pluck the golden letters and devices from his dress and that of his company.

   • 1884, Marie Cufaude, “Extracts From the Recollections of Marie Cufaude”, in Monthly Packet of Evening Readings for Members of the English Church, page 427:

     Her Latin and French had been much approved of, and by-and-by she was to show off her dancing by dancing a pavon before him.

   • 1978, Ruth Kelso, Doctrine for the Lady of the Renaissance, page 53:

     More wholeheartedly an English physician, John Jones, on the authority of Sir thomas Elyot, Erasmus and others, recommends among sports and pastimes "comely dancing for preserving the healthy spritis as also for strenghening the sound bodie, using only that kind of Musicke called Dorios, where neyther deformitie is practised, nor wantonnesse enticed, but rather these virtues (as sheweth Erasmus and Fuchsius) as prudence, modestie, sobrietie and policie in Bargenets, Pavons, Galiardes, Sturgions and Roundes only."

3. The peacock bass
   • 1972 May, A.J. McClane, “Amazon......wonder World of Fishes”, in Field & Stream, volume 77, number 1, page 100:

     A pavon on every cast and my hands were raw from grabbing their jaws.

   • 1991 July, Joe Doggett, “Proud of a Peacock”, in Field & Stream, volume 96, number 3, page 70:

     A fast, noisy retrieve excited most strikes; if a pavon swirled short, a dancing lure usually triggered a follow-up attempt.

   • 1993, Larry Larsen, Peacock Bass Explosions, page 18:

     In Venezuela, the pavon is the national freshwater fish of the country.

   • 1996, Lefty Kreh, Fly Fishing for Bass, page 127:

     My very favorite place to fish the pavons, especially the big peacock pavons, is in low clear water.

4. (South America) Any of various birds with ornate plumage, similar to a peacock.
   • 1855, William Henry Edwards, A Voyage Up the River Amazon, Including a Residence at Pará, page 171:

     To console our bereavement somewhat, she sent down to the galliota a pair of young, noisy, half-fledged parrots, and a pavon or sun-bird .

   • 1859, Julius Fröbel, Seven Years' Travel in Central America, Northern Mexico, and the Far West of The United States:

     This is often stated to be the female of the pavon, but the opinion is erroneous, the pava not even appearing to belong to the same genus as the pavon, and having more the characer of a Penelope or Salpiza.

   • 1997, Roger Casement, Angus Mitchell, The Amazon Journal of Roger Casement, page 195:

     The head boy had just been stalking a pavon (peacock), and was aiming at it up in a tree when a jaguar aimed at him behind.

5. A tropical butterfly, Doxocopa pavon, noted for the iridescent purple coloration of the male.
   • 2002, Lisa Bonforte, Jan Sovak, Paul E. Kennedy, Color and Learn Birds, Butterflies and Wild Flowers, page 89:

     The Pavon is yet another tropical member of the huge Brush-footed Butterfly family that just barely enters the United States, in southeast Texas, and even there only rarely.

   • 2010, Robert Michael Pyle, Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year:

     Then, as I was spreading Ben's special brew on the big log over the wash, a general call went up: "Pavon!" I ran,and there was Doxocopa pavon all right, on a fruit basket.

6. A subtropical plant of genus Peperomia.
   • 1907, Isaac Bayley Balfour, Roland Thaxter, Vernon Herbert Blackman, Annals of Botany - Volume 21, page 140:

     The Pavon plant , which appears to be similar to Mandon No. 1123 , has no ripe fruits , but was probably the plant on which the original description was based , for Pentland's plant is without doubt a specimen of P. peruviana, Dahlst

7. A hydrochloride of opium alkaloid, similar to Pantopon, used as a pain medication.
   • 1922, International Medical and Surgical Survey, page 468:

     This indicates that pavon is a diluted pantopon, a pavon tablet is equivalent to half a pantopon tablet , and an ampule of pavon to half a ampule of pantopon .

   • '1924, Year Book of the American Pharmaceutical Association, page 228:

     Many similar preparations have appeared since, viz., glykopon, glykomekon, totopon, holopon, pavon, etc.

Usage notes

Historic use of the term pavon for a small triangular flag is disputed, and it is possibly a modern misnomer.

Esperanto

Noun

pavon

1. accusative singular of pavo

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin pāvōnem.

Noun

pavon m (plural pavons)

1. peacock

Lombard

Etymology

From Latin pāvōnem.

Pronunciation

• Singular:
  • IPA^(key): /paˈ(v)un/, [paˈ(v)ũː], [paˈ(v)uːŋ] (Western)
  • IPA^(key): /paˈu/, [paˈuː] (Eastern)
• Plural:
  • IPA^(key): /paˈ(v)un/, [paˈ(v)ũː], [paˈ(v)uːŋ] (Western)
  • IPA^(key): /paˈu/, [paˈuː] (Eastern)
  • IPA^(key): /paˈ(v)uɲ/, [paˈ(v)uːɲ] (Ticinese)
  • IPA^(key): /paˈvoj/, [paˈvoːj], [paˈvuːj] (Ticinese and Novarese)

Noun

pavon m (masculine plural pavon, feminine singular pavona, feminine plural pavone)

1. peacock

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan pavon, from Latin pāvōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paˈβu/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

pavon m (plural pavons)

1. peacock

Piedmontese

Etymology

From Latin pāvōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [paˈvuŋ]

Noun

pavon m

1. peacock