scutcheon

English

Etymology

Aphetic form of escutcheon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskʌtʃ(ə)n/

  Rhymes: -ʌtʃən

Noun

scutcheon (plural scutcheons)

1. An escutcheon; an emblazoned shield.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:

     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.

   • Macaulay

     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