clinquant

English

Etymology

From French clinquant, from clinquer (“to clink”), from Dutch klinken, of imitative origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklɪŋkənt/

Adjective

clinquant (comparative more clinquant, superlative most clinquant)

1. glittery; gleaming; sparkling; dressed in, or overlaid with, tinsel finery.
   • a. 1603, William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, Henry VIII, act 1, scene 1, lines 18–20:

     Today the French, / All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods, / Shone down the English;

Noun

clinquant (uncountable)

1. Dutch metal
2. tinsel; glitter
   • 1806 [a. 1681], Lucy Hutchinson, Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, 3rd edition, volume 2, Longman, Hurst, Bees, and Orme, published 1810, page 177:

     Harrison came that day in a scarlett coate and cloake, both laden with gold and silver lace, and the coate so cover'd with clinquant, that scarcely could one discerne the ground,

   • 1762, George Vertue, Horace Walpole, Some Anecdotes of Painting in England, volume 2, published 1849, page 442:

     Lely supplied the want of taste with clinquant; his nymphs trail fringes and embroidery through meadows and purling streams.