scutcheon

See also: 'scutcheon

English

Alternative forms

• 'scutcheon

Etymology

Aphetic form of escutcheon.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈskʌtʃ(ə)n/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  Rhymes: -ʌtʃən

Noun

scutcheon (plural scutcheons)

1. An escutcheon; an emblazoned shield.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     But she againe him in the shield did smite / With so fierce furie and great puissaunce, / That, through his three-square scuchin piercing quite / And through his mayled hauberque, by mischaunce / The wicked steele through his left side did glaunce.

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 3, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     The corpse lay in state, with all the pomp of scutcheons, wax lights, black hangings, and mutes.

   • 1627, Francis Bacon, Essays of Francis Bacon or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Chapter 29. "Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates":

     There be now, for martial encouragement, some degrees and orders of chivalry; which nevertheless are conferred promiscuously, upon soldiers and no soldiers; and some remembrance perhaps, upon the scutcheon; and some hospitals for maimed soldiers; and such like things.

   • 1935, Francis Beeding, “10/6”, in The Norwich Victims‎^[1]:

     The Attorney-General, however, had used this episode, which Martin in retrospect had felt to be a blot on the scutcheon, merely to emphasise the intelligence and resource of the prisoner.

2. An escutcheon; a small plate of metal, such as the shield around a keyhole.

Derived terms

• scutcheoned
• scutcheonless