A.Word.A.Day --pauldron

A.Word.A.Day

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Nov 1, 2012

This week's theme
Words that appear to have been coined after the 2012 US presidential candidates

This week's words
obambulate
bidentate
mitty
pauldron
barrack

A sandtrooper in orange pauldron

Photo: Kevin Baird

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

pauldron

PRONUNCIATION:

(PAWL-druhn)

MEANING:

noun: A piece of plate armor to protect the shoulder.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French épaule (shoulder), from Latin spatula (blade). Earliest documented use: before 1396.

USAGE:

"The influence is most obvious in the rather silly haute couture designs of John Galliano for Christian Dior, with their exaggerated pauldrons ... over their svelte models' right shoulders."
Richard Nilsen; Middle Ages and High Fashion; The Arizona Republic (Phoenix); May 31, 2009.

See more usage examples of pauldron in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

We saw men haying far off in the meadow, their heads waving like the grass which they cut. In the distance the wind seemed to bend all alike. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

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