pierced, ppl. a.
(pɪəst, poet. ˈpɪəsɪd)
Forms: see pierce v.
[f. pierce v. + -ed1.]
1. a. Punctured, perforated, penetrated, etc.: see the verb.
| c 1400 Sege Jerusalem 703 So was he pyned fram prime with persched sides, Tolle þe sonne doun souȝt. 1552 Huloet, Perced, fossus, foratus. 1693 in Dryden's Juvenal iv. (1697) 87 Mark the pointed Spears That from thy Hand on his pierc'd Back he wears! 1835 J. Coldstream in J. H. Balfour Biog. iii. (1865) 103 Soothing and cheering the agitated and pierced mind. 1848 Rickman Archit. App. 43 Plain parapets are common, and perhaps pierced parapets..still more so. 1858 C. F. Alexander Hymn, ‘When wounded sore’ i, One only hand, a pierced hand, Can salve the sinner's wound. |
b. spec. in
Her. (
a) Said of a charge represented as perforated with a hole (of different shape from the charge itself:
cf. voided), so that the tincture of the field appears through. (
b) Said of an animal used as a charge, represented as having an arrow, spear, etc., fixed in its body but not passing through it (
cf. transfixed).
| 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry ii. vii. 70 He beareth Sable, a Crosse couped, Pierced, by the name of Grill. 1658 Phillips, Pierced,..in Heraldry, as a crosse pierced, i.e. bored in the middle. 1725 Coats New Dict. Her. s.v., If a Cross have a square Hole, or Perforation in the Center, it is blazon'd, Square pierced... When the Hole, or Perforation is round, it must be express'd, Round pierced. 1823 Rutter Fonthill p. xxi, Three Cinque-foils, Ermine, pierced of the field. 1882 Cussans Her. iv. 63 If only that part [of a cross] where the limbs are conjoined be removed, it is termed Quarterly-pierced... A Cross with a square aperture in its centre, smaller than the last, is Quarter-pierced. |
c. Of silver, plate, china, porcelain, etc.: ornamented with perforations.
| 1756 in R. W. Read Reprint of Orig. Catal. Chelsea Porcelain Manuf. (1880) 6 Four round pierced baskets enamel'd in flowers. Ibid. 7 A fine perfume pot pierced, chased and gilt, and enamel'd in birds. 1785 Daily Universal Reg. 1 Jan. 3/2 Pierced and engraved oval salts... Pierced and solid headed mustard pots. 1875 E. Meteyard Wedgwood Handbk. 338 The high fluted pillar candle-stick, the pierced fruit basket,..and various other articles, all show an infinite variety, beauty, and fitness of outline. 1931 E. Wenham Domestic Silver v. 88 Pierced baskets for bread were also made in the Early Stuart period and..are the prototypes of the baskets popular in the eighteenth century. 1956 [see cake-basket s.v. cake n. 9 a]. 1970 G. Savage Dict. Antiques 319/2 In more recent times George Owen (d. 1917) made elaborately pierced or reticulated porcelain for the Royal Worcester Porcelain Company. 1974 A. Grimwade Rococo Silver iv. 45 An exceptional set of twelve [salt-cellars] by Emick Romer, about 1760, have glass bowls enclosed in pierced cagework on chinoiserie motifs. |
2. Special collocations, as
pierced earring U.S., an earring designed to be worn in a pierced ear;
Pierced-nose = Nez Percé, Nez Perce.
| 1965 Time 15 Oct. 70/3 Pierced earrings are by far the most attractive ones available. 1966 N.Y. Times 6 June 53 Variation on the pierced earring theme. 1971 Tuscaloosa (Alabama) News 31 Dec. 8 The package deal includes the purchase of a $6 pair of pierced earrings... The customer may..have her (or his) ears pierced free of charge. |
| 1805 W. Clark in Lewis & Clark Orig. Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Expedition (1905) III. 78 They call themselves the Cho pun-nish or Pierced noses. 1831 R. Cox Adventures Columbia River II. vi. 122 We had many reasons to suspect that the Pierced-noses..were actuated by feelings of hostility. 1837 W. Irving Rocky Mountains I. xviii. 183 A Pierced-nose chief, named Blue John by the whites. 1908 H. J. Spinden in Mem. Amer. Anthropol. Assoc. II. iii. 172 Ross says the people are called Pierced Noses from the custom ‘of having their noses bored to hold a certain white shell like the fluke of an anchor’. |