blazon Hear it!

blazon Definition

bla·zon (blāzən)

noun

  1. a coat of arms; heraldic shield, emblem, or banner
  2. a technical description or illustration of a coat of arms in accordance with the rules of heraldry
  3. showy display

Etymology: ME blasoun < OFr blason, a shield, blazon

transitive verb

  1. to make known far and wide; proclaim: often with forth, out, or abroad
  2. to describe technically or portray (coats of arms)
    1. to portray in colors
    2. to adorn colorfully or showily

Etymology: < the n.; mistakenly assoc. with blaze

blazon Related Forms
bla·zoner noun bla·zon·ment noun
blazon Usage Examples

Object

  • arm: The task of blazoning these arms of John Stewart, Lord of Lorne ( 1448 ), can confuse even the experts.
  • name: And teachers can find their names blazoned across the newspapers, their careers shattered - and all on the basis of a false accusation.
  • idea: Yet ordinary suicide would blazon the very idea he dreaded.

Converse of object

  • follow: It is strange that the Thomson arms of the second and third quarters do not follow the blazon.
  • give: All blazons given in this book are referenced to the Lyon Register.

Adjective modifier

  • heraldic: The Knights Shield displayed an heraldic blazon which identified the Knight.

Modifying Another Word

  • abroad: There he was, his photograph blazoned abroad, in all our newspapers.

Preposition: across

  • newspaper: And teachers can find their names blazoned across the newspapers, their careers shattered - and all on the basis of a false accusation.

Preposition: of

  • arm: See the College website for an illustration and blazon of the arms.
  • coat: See the College website for an illustration and blazon of this coat of arms.
blazon Quotes

Time has transfigured them into Untruth. The stone fidelity They hardly meant has come to be Their final blazon, and to prove Our almost-instinct almost true: What will survive of us is love.

—Larkin, Philip Arthur

Browse dictionary entries near blazon

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