▪ I. aglet, aiglet
(ˈæglət, ˈeɪglət)
Forms: 5–6 aglett(e, aglott(e, agglot, 5–9 aglet, 6 agglet(te, aiguelet, aguelette, ayguelet, 8 aigullet, 9 (egellet) aigulet, aiglet, aiguillette.
[a. Fr. aiguillette dim. of aiguille needle:—late L. acūcula, var. of acicula, dim. of acus needle. The phonetic changes must have been aiguiˈllette, aigueˈlette, aiˈglette, aˈglette, ˈaglĕt (-ət), but early instances are wanting: in modern times it has been again made aiglet and aiguillette.]
1. The metal tag of a lace (formerly called point), intended primarily to make it easier to thread through the eyelet-holes, but afterwards also as an ornament to the pendent ends.
| 1440 Promp. Parv., Agglot or an aglet to lace wyth alle, Acus, aculus. 1468 Cov. Myst. (1841) 241 Two dozeyn poyntys of cheverelle, the aglottes of sylver feyn. a 1500 in Wright Vocab. 238 Hoc mominlum, a naglott. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 108 Take hede..that it be fast on with laces wythout agglettes. 1549 Latimer 7 Serm. bef. Edw. VI (1869) 117 He made hys pen of the aglet of a poynte that he plucked from hys hose. 1603 Holland Plutarch Mor. 13 You put your aglet, sir, thorow the oilet that is not made for it. 1708 Kersey, Aglet, the Tag of a Point. 1775 Ash, Aigullet, a point with tags. 1834 J. R. Planché Hist. Brit. Cost. 236 These splendid hose..were attached by points or laces, with tags called agulettes or aglets (i.e. aiguillettes) to the doublet. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) IV. xiii. 148 The message related to two letters written with an aglet plucked from his hose. |
2. Hence, An ornament consisting a. properly, of a gold or silver tag or pendent attached to a fringe; whence b. extended to any metallic stud, plate, or spangle worn on the dress.
| 1514 Fitzherbert Justyce of Peas 120 We shall weare any agglettes, botons, or broches of golde or sylver, gylt, or counterfayt gylt. 1530 Palsgr. 193/2 Aiguelet to fasten a claspe in, porte. 1531 Elyot Governour (1580) 91 A millayne or French bonnet on his head full of agglets. 1551 Edward VI Jrnl. Lit. Rem. (1858) 325 His goune dressed with aglettes, worth 25 li. 1587 Holinshed Chron. III. 1207/1 On the sleeues eight and thirtie paire of aglets of gold. 1580 Baret Alvearie A 227 An aglet or iewell in one's cap. 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. iii. 26 A silken Camus..Which all above besprinckled was throughout With golden aygulets, that glistred bright, Like twinckling starres. 1598 Florio, Tremolante..aglets or spangles. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Aglet, a little plate of any mettal, the tag of a point. 1764 R. Burn Poor Laws 21 No man, under the degree of a gentleman, shall wear any aglets of gold or silver. |
c. esp. A tagged point, braid, or cord, hanging from the shoulder upon the breast in some military and naval uniforms. In this sense now officially treated as Fr., and written aiguillette.
| 1843 Lytton Last of Bar. ii. ii. 126 No flaunting tawdriness of fringe & aiglet characterised the appearance of the baron. 1845 J. Saunders Cabinet Pict. 33 Little aiglets, tipped with gold, (hang) from his shoulders. 1879 Cornh. Mag. June 685 A handsome officer, bearing the epaulets and aiglets of a staff captain. 1882 Navy List July 495/2 Aides-de-Camp to the Queen are to wear a gold aiguillette on the right shoulder. |
3. ‘Still used in haberdashery, and denotes round white stay-laces.’ Drapers' Dictionary 1882.
[So in mod.Fr. aiguillette has passed from the tag to the lace or cord, as point did in Eng.]
4. Herb. Any pendent part of a flower resembling the prec., esp. a. A catkin of hazel, birch, etc. b. An anther (only in Dicts., and perh. erroneous).
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens 635 The knoppes or agglettes that hang in the Birche or Hasell trees. 1598 Gerarde Herball i. xxxix. §2. 56 A certain long aglet or bunch, such as the Aller tree bringeth foorth. 1657 Purchas Theatre of Insects xiii. 72 When they gather off the Aglets, or Catkins, of the Hazel. 1708 Kersey, Aglets or Aglects (among Florists) are the Pendants that hang on the Tip-ends of Chivets and Threads; as in Tulips, Roses, etc. 1809 Parkins Culpepper's Eng. Phys. Enl. 127 A long bush of small and more yellow, green, scaly aglets, set in the same manner on the stalks as the leaves are. c 1860 Lowell Wks. 1879, 373/2 And [the willow] glints his steely aglets in the sun. |
† 5. A fragment of flesh hanging by the skin. Hence, a scrap, a shred. (Cf. Fr. découper un canard par aiguillettes, Littré.) Obs.
| 1555 Fardle of Facions ii. x. 217 No, the begger..getteth not an aguelette of hym. Ibid. App. 352 That thei should vtterly destroy him..not leauing an agguelet of a poincte for the memorial of such hopeloste persones. |
6. Comb. aglet-babie, ? A doll or (grown-up) ‘baby’ decked with aglets. (Explained by some as an aglet shaped like a human figure. Johnson defines aglet as ‘A tag of a point curved into some representation of an animal, generally of a man,’ but no quotations have been found bearing out this statement, which was perhaps merely hazarded as an explanation of aglet-babie); aglet-headed, having a head resembling an aglet; aglet-hole, a hole for passing a lace through, an eyelet-hole.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. ii. 80 Giue him Gold enough, and marrie him to a Puppet or an Aglet babie, or an old trot with ne're a tooth in her head. 1789 Pilkington Derby. I. 330 (Jod.) Aglet-headed rush. 1600 Darrell Demon. Possess. 6 The boy..burst the buttons of his Doublet & the aglet holes before both of his Doublet and Hose. ― Detect. Harsnet 181 The buttons of his Doublett did brust off and his aglet holees breake. 1623 Minsheu Sp. Dict., Aglet-hole, Ojéte. |
▪ II. ˈaglet, v. Obs. rare.
[f. the n.]
To put a tag on a point.
| 1530 Palsgr. 418/2, I agglet, I set on an agglet upon a poynte or a lace. Je fene. These poyntes be yvell bought, for some be aggletted and some nat. |