▪ I. spangle, n.1
(ˈspæŋg(ə)l)
Also 5 spangele, -yll, 5–6 spangell(e, 6 spangel, spangill(e.
[f. spang n.1 + -le. Cf. G. spängel.]
1. a. A small round thin piece of glittering metal (usually brass) with a hole in the centre to pass a thread through, used for the decoration of textile fabrics and other materials of various sorts.
| c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 277 Of goldsmythes werke with spanglys wrought be-dene. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 467/1 Spangele, or losange.., lorale. 1485 Mat. ill. Reign Hen. VII (Rolls) II. 17 Item, xixx vnces in spangell for vii. gownes and plackardes for the henxmen. 1535 Wardr. Kath. Arragon 35 in Camden Misc. III, Garnysshid..withe spangilles of silver and gilte. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. xviii. (1912) 462 His attiring..all cutte in starres, which made of cloath of silver, and silver spangles, each way seemed to cast many aspects. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 168 Many of the said Virgines have their neckbands set with spangles, such as some children with us weare. 1693 Phil. Trans. XVII. 862 As thin, as the thinnest Spangle you ever saw. 1726 Swift Gulliver i. vi, Their greatest gold coin, about the bigness of a spangle. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxi, A tawdry scarf of yellow silk, trimmed with tinsel and spangles. 1870 Rock Text. Fab. Introd. p. civ, Silver-gilt spangles wrought to figure six-petalled flowers. |
| fig. 1647 Trapp Comm., Rom. viii. 28 God changeth our grisly wounds into spangles of beauty. 1652 N. Culverwel Lt. Nature i. xi. (1661) 84 Are not many Souls guilty, defiled, miserable Beings? and are they all this while spangles of a Deity? Ibid. xvi. 145 The least Spangle of Happiness is better, then a Globe of Temporals. a 1667 Cowley Hymn to Light ix. Poems (1905) 445 Nor..dost thou scorn The humble Glow-worms to adorn, And with those living spangles gild..the Bushes of the Field. |
b. transf. A star.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. i. 603 Those bright spangles that the heav'ns adorn. 1614 ― Bethulia's Rescue i. 351 Twinkling Spangles nightly brightly roule On sabled Circles of the whirling Pole. 1652 Crashaw Mary Magdalene Wks. (1904) 259 They but seem to fall, As Heavn's other spangles doe. 1728 Pope Dunc. iii. 61 See round the Poles where keener spangles shine. 1825 Scott Betrothed viii, The thousand spangles that deck the firmament. |
c. A glitter as of spangles. rare.
| 1830 Tennyson Sea-Fairies 24 The spangle dances in bight and bay. 1893 Cornh. Mag. Nov. 484 Not a breath of air was stirring; everywhere overhead was the spangle of the stars. |
2. a. A condensed particle reflecting light, as of hoar-frost, snow, or dew.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. x. 48 As hoarie frost with spangles doth attire The mossy braunches of an Oke halfe ded. a 1691 Boyle Hist. Air (1692) 193 We took notice of the icy spangles in the air, flying about like atoms in the sun's beams. 1776 Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad iii. 88 On the rude cliffs with frosty spangles grey, Weak as the twilight gleams the solar ray. 1862 Tyndall Mountaineer. viii. 67 The wintry clouds, as you know, drop spangles on the mountains. 1863 ― Heat v. §181 (1870) 146, I have also seen snow flakes descending so softly, as not to hurt the fragile spangles of which they were composed. |
b. A glittering point or speck of light.
| 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 75 The sun now sinks behind the woodland green, And twittering spangles glow the leaves between. 1841 B. Hall Patchwork II. viii. 146 The moon..scattering along the surface of the sea a bright..chain of spangles. |
3. A small or minute glittering particle, esp. of a mineral substance.
| 1611 Cotgr., Pailles,..the flakes, or spangles that flie from hammered, and red-hot yron, &c. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. v. 58 We saw it was a claie sand so mingled with yeallow spangles as if [etc.]. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 93 Found either in compact masses, or in spangles. 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life ii. xxiii, Liquid spangles of powder and pomatum. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 606 It occurs there principally in spangles among the alluvial earths. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 388 Spangles are formed which scintillate and sparkle. |
4. a. A scale, spot, marking, etc., suggestive of a spangle.
| 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 271 No shining spangles upon them or the calyx. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) III. 441/2 A bractea, spangle, or floral leaf, differing in its appearance from the other leaves of the plant. 1854 L. A. Meall Moubray's Poultry 157 These spangles,..in true-feathered birds, are formed perfectly whole and clearly defined. 1867 Duke of Argyll Reign of Law v. (1871) 236 A species of Lophornis with a tippet of emerald spangles. |
b. An oak-spangle. (See oak 9.)
| 1842 Selby Brit. Forest Trees 288 Those beautiful little excrescences so common upon the under side of the leaves of the oak and known by the name of spangles. 1873 Tegetmeier Pheasants 5 Among the more singular articles of food that form part of the pheasants' very varied dietary may be mentioned the spangles of the oak leaf. |
c. A fowl or pigeon belonging to a variety distinguished by speckled plumage.
| 1854 Poultry Chron. II. 66/1 Eighteen pens of beautiful silver spangles added to the old laurels of Mr. Vivian. 1855 Ibid. III. 175/2 The Toys [sc. pigeons] are as follows: Suabians or Spangles, [etc.]. Ibid. 355/2 The third kind is what the old breeders of Game fowls call ‘Spangles’. The cock is red and white in the hackle and saddle, and black and white in the tail and breast. The hens are partridge-colour, spotted with white. 1948 G. O. Rickwood Constable's Country 14 The..‘King's Arms’..was a rendezvous of cock-fighters in days when the ‘feeders’ of the birds—Shropshire reds, Staffordshire jet-blacks,..spangles and other noted breeds—were..important personages in the hierarchy of the sport. |
5. Cant. A seven-shilling piece.
| 1811 Lexicon-Balatronicum. 1823 Egan Grose's Dict. Vulg. T. |
6. U.S. (See quot.)
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2252/2 The clasps or spangles by which the wires and tapes of hoop-skirts are secured together. |
7. attrib. and Comb., as spangle embroidery, spangle gold, spangle-maker, spangle-stone, spangle-work; † spangle-baby, a fop or dandy; spangle-gall = sense 4 b; † spangle-wort, a species of sea-weed.
| 1602 Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 212 We must haue false fiers to amaze these spangle babies, these true heires of Ma. Justice Shallow. 1611 Cotgr., Or de paillole, spangle gold; or gold thinne-beaten for spangles. Ibid., Pailleteur, a Spangle-maker. 1648 Herrick Hesp., Temple 65 The Fringe..Is Spangle-work of trembling dew. 1681 Grew Musæum ii. §v. ii. 247 Flat Coralline, as it may be called, or Spangle-Wort. 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. (1737) 216 Trash-mongers and Spangle-makers. 1803 Sarrett New Pict. Lond. 114 A great variety of Micæ or spangle stones. 1864–5 J. G. Wood Homes without H. xxv. (1868) 493 The curious little galls..which are appropriately called Spangle-galls, because they are as circular and nearly as flat as metallic spangles. 1874 H. H. Cole Catal. Ind. Art S. Kens. Mus. 251 The black ground is covered with gold lace and spangle embroidery. |
▪ II. ˈspangle, n.2 Sc. and Ir. ? Obs.
[Of obscure origin.]
A measure of yarn.
| 1705 Spreull Acc. Current betw. Scot. & Eng. Misc. Writ. (1882) 12 Out of a Pound weight of Lint that grew at home, there was six Spangle of fine Yarn Spun or got out of it. 1780 A. Young Tour Irel. I. 166 The 8 lb. [of flax] will spin into..20 hanks or 5 spangles fit for a ten hundred cloth. 1865 Irel. & her Staple Manuf. (E.D.D.), Every hank contained a dozen cuts,..and four hanks were counted as a spangle. |
▪ III. spangle, v.
(ˈspæŋg(ə)l)
[f. spangle n.1 Cf. G. spängeln, † spengeln.]
1. trans. To decorate (a garment or the like) with spangles.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 16 Russet satyn, spangled with spangels of fine gold. 1572 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 180 To John Bettes and his wyfe for one daye and one nighte spangling of the headpeeces. 1611 Cotgr., Pailleter, to spangle, to bespangle, to trimme, or decke, with spangles. 1784 Ann. Reg., Chron. 183/2 They were all five in Spanish dresses..of white crape spangled with gold. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 355 The young ladies are industriously spangling muslins. 1874 H. H. Cole Catal. Ind. Art S. Kens. Mus. 269 The muslin..has a very gay appearance, as if spangled. 1904 Mrs. Alec Tweedie Behind Footlights xi. 210 Women..trimming headgear, others spangling ribbon. |
| fig. 1607 Shakes. Timon iii. vi. 101 This is Timons last Who stucke and spangled with your Flatteries, Washes it off. |
b. To adorn as with spangles; to cause to glitter as if so decorated. Const. with.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 79 He th' Azure Tester trimm'd with golden marks, And richly spangled with bright glistring-sparks. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems (1656) 63 To spread the Azure Canopy of Heaven, And Spangle it all with Sparkes of burning Gold. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles i. xxiii, A hundred torches play'd, Spangling the wave with lights. 1839 Bailey Festus 253 The finger of that hand Which spangled o'er infinity with suns. 1883 Symonds Ital. Byways i. 1 There had been a hard frost, spangling the meadows with rime-crystals. |
| fig. 1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler (1843) 89 It is in fashion with you to spangle your speeches with new quodled words. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VIII. 327 They spangle over their productions with metaphors. |
2. Of things: To dot or cover (something) after the manner of spangles.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. v. 31 What stars do spangle heauen with such beautie? 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 384 With thousand thousand Starres, that then appeer'd Spangling the Hemisphere. 1795 Coleridge To Author of Poems 36 With stars, unseen before, spangling her robe of night! 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son cxvii, The Sunda islands, which spangle the eastern ocean. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. iv. 34 Innumerable plates of mica spangled the fine sand. |
3. In passive: To present an appearance as if decorated with spangles; to be dotted or spotted with something suggestive of spangles.
| 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 130 Four faces each Had..; all thir shape Spangl'd with eyes. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters II. 136 This lawn is..in the season spangled with autumnal colchicum. 1775 Sheridan The Duenna ii. i, Her skin..being spangled here and there with a golden freckle. 1840 Thackeray George Cruikshank (1869) 305 The pew..wadded, and stuffed, and spangled over with brass nails. 1849 Kingsley Misc. (1859) II. 299 These bright grey granite rocks, spangled with black glittering mica and golden lichens. 1874 Symonds Sk. Italy & Greece (1898) I. 13 The meadows, spangled with yellow flowers. |
b. In fig. applications.
| 1589 Nashe Martin Marprelate Wks. (Grosart) I. 95 That worke shall come out of the Presse like a bride from her chamber, spangled and trapt. 1828 Duppa Trav. Italy, etc. 84 Rich and varied scenery, spangled at once with the comforts and refinements of life. 1893 M{supc}Carthy Dictator I. 79 Long letters spangled with stirring allusions to the Empire. |
c. To be dotted or scattered about, like spangles.
| 1740 Richardson Pamela xliv. (1824) I. 368 The villages that lie spangled about this vast circumference. |
4. intr. To glitter or sparkle with, or in the manner of, spangles.
| 1639 Mayne City Match To Rdr., Masquers..spangle, & glitter for the time, but tis through tinsell. 1665 Bunyan Holy Citie 177 All these things will spangle in the New Jerusalem. a 1770 Chatterton Bristowe Tragedy lxvii, Tassils spanglynge ynne the sunne, Muche glorious to beholde. 1854 Fraser's Mag. L. 47 A contrast to all the other objects which spangle in the starry vault. 1857 S. Wilberforce Sp. Missions (1874) 315 Just as..you see the sparks flashing and spangling. |