spangle
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See also: Spangle
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English spangel (“a small piece of ornamental metal; a small ornament”); equivalent to spang + -le.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
spangle (plural spangles)
- A small piece of sparkling metallic material sewn on to a garment as decoration; a sequin.
- 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
- And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.
- Any small sparkling object.
- 1645, Edmund Waller, “Of and to the Queene”, lines 35--38:
- Thus, in a starry night, fond children cry
For the rich spangles that adorn the sky,
Which, though they shine for ever fixed there,
With light and influence relieve us here.
- Thus, in a starry night, fond children cry
- 1645, Edmund Waller, “Of and to the Queene”, lines 35--38:
- The butterfly, Papilio demoleus, family Papilionidae, of Asia.
- (obsolete, slang) Money. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Translations[edit]
a small sparkling particle sewn on cloth as a decoration
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Verb[edit]
spangle (third-person singular simple present spangles, present participle spangling, simple past and past participle spangled)
- (intransitive) To sparkle, flash or coruscate.
- (transitive) To fix spangles to; bespangle; to adorn with stars
- c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene v]:
- What stars do spangle heaven with such beauty?
Derived terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English words suffixed with -le (diminutive)
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