▪ I. coronet, n.
(ˈkɒrənɪt)
Forms: 5–6 coronette, 5–8 -ett, (7 coronate), 6– coronet.
[a. OF. coronete, -ette, later couronnette, dim. of corone, couronne crown n.: see -et1. Also reduced to cronet, and refashioned as crownet, q.v.]
1. a. A small or inferior crown; spec. a crown denoting a dignity inferior to that of the sovereign, worn by the nobility, and varying in form according to rank.
| 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 603, .iii. ladyes rychely clad in golde and sylke, with coronettes vpon theyr heddes. 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. 185 The Duke weryth a coronet ouer a cap of sylke. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 239 I sawe Marke Antony offer him a Crowne, yet 'twas not a Crowne neyther, 'twas one of these Coronets. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, iv. i. 54, 1 All the rest are Countesses. 2 Their Coronets say so. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth x, ‘By my coronet—by my knightly faith, it is true!’ said the Earl. 1833 Tennyson Lady Clara Vere de Vere vii, Kind hearts are more than coronets. 1876 World V. 3 He has no children to whom he might bequeath the well-earned coronet. |
| fig. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab 99 The fair star That gems the glittering coronet of morn. |
b. A figure of a coronet (in Heraldry, etc.).
| 1678 Butler Hud. iii. ii. 872 Ladies..With coronets at their footmen's breeches. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xvii. iv, Are there no charms in the thoughts of having a coronet on your coach? 1864 Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. xvii. 265 It..became a usage in the fifteenth century to have the Crest to rise from out of a Coronet. |
c. transf. A terminal or crowning circlet of spines, hairs, or other small objects.
| 1826 Kirby & Spence Entomol. III. xxxiii. 385 Coronula.., a coronet or semicoronet of fixed spines observable at the apex of the posterior Tibia in Fulgora candelaria, etc. |
2. a. A fillet or wreath of beautiful workmanship or precious materials, worn as an ornament round the temples; esp. in modern costume, a decorative part of a woman's head-dress, consisting of a plate or band of metal, or the like, encircling the front of the head.
| 1599 Microcynicon (Fairholt), But oh her silver framed Coronet With lowe downe dangling spangles all beset. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven (1831) 38 Wearing of perriwigs, and other hair coronets and top-gallants. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2230/4 A pair of Flanders lac'd Ruffles and Coronet. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 132 He made a nice garland, or rather a coronet, of sundry strings of beads. 1822 S. Rogers Italy, Ginevra, And on her brow, fairer than alabaster, A coronet of pearls. 1836 W. Irving Astoria II. 49 They wear gay coronets of plumes, particularly those of the swan. |
b. A chaplet or garland of flowers for the head.
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iv. i. 57 She his hairy temples then had rounded, With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 546 That varietie of floures which she gathered and couched together..in her Coronets. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. II. 400 We find it [the Nymphæa]..used for a kind of coronet upon figures of Orus. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan III. 335 Thy coronet of rich flowers. |
3. = corona 7 b; formerly, also, a whorl of small flowers as in Labiates; a flowering head of an umbelliferous or composite plant (cf. corona 7 c).
| 1555 Fardle Facions i. iii. 37 The coronettes of their Pasnepes and Garden Thistles..[are said] to be twelue Cubites compasse. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden ccx, Feild Calamint with whorled Coronets. 1845 Lindley Sch. Bot. i. (1858) 15 Sometimes there is within, or upon, the corolla, a cup, as in the Daffodil, or a ring of scales, as in the Passion-flower; this is the Coronet. |
† 4. Arch. The capital of a column. Obs.
| 1555 Fardle Facions ii. xii. 301 Pilers..upon whose coronettes or heades the..rofe of the Churche maye reste. |
5. a. Farriery. The lowest part of the pastern of a horse, immediately above the coffin; also the bone of this part, the coronary bone.
| 1696 A. Snape Anat. Horse v. xii. 223 Rasing the Hoof from the Coronet or top of it to the very bottom..until the Bloud come. 1792 Osbaldiston Brit. Sportsman 122/2 The coronet of a horse's foot, is that part on the very top of it where the hair grows. 1833 Sir C. Bell Hand (ed. 3) 94 In the horse's leg the five bones..of the second phalanx [are consolidated] into the lesser pastern or coronet. |
b. The bur or ring of bone on the head of a deer, at the base of an antler.
| 1898 Lydekker Deer of all Lands 6 Towards the completion of its [sc. the antler's] growth a more or less prominent ring of bone, termed the burr or coronet, is deposited at its base just above the junction with the pedicle. |
6. = coronal n. 3. (See also cronet.)
| 1731 in Bailey vol. II. |
7. Short for coronet moth: see 8.
8. attrib. and Comb. coronet moth, a collector's name of Acronycta Ligustri.
| 1778 F. Burney Evelina liii, I perceived among the carriages..a coronet-coach. 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 250 Coronet Moth (Noctua Ligustri). 1829 Southey Sir T. More II. 161 Old family-trees, especially of the coronet-bearing kind. 1869 E. Newman Brit. Moths, No. 432 The Coronet. |
▪ II. ˈcoronet, v. rare.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To confer a coronet upon; to adorn as with a coronet; to place a coronet upon (a person's head); also fig. Hence ˈcoroneting vbl. n.
| 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. Introd. v, The simple lily-braid That coronets her temples. c 1830 Bentham Wks. XI. 98 Mr. Eden, afterwards coroneted by the title of Lord Auckland. 1881 ‘Mark Twain’ Prince & Pauper xxxii. 348 He puts her coronet where it will be convenient to her hand when the time for the simultaneous coroneting of the nobles shall arrive. 1900 Daily News 1 May 2/4 The circle of Westmoreland and Cumberland hills..still coroneted with snow. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 11 Aug. 10/1 The moment the crown was on the head of the Queen the peeresses all coroneted themselves. |
▪ III. coronet
obs. f. cornet.