lozenge, n.
(ˈlɒzɪndʒ)
Forms: 4–7 loseng(e, 5–6 losang(e, losing(e, 5 losyngye, (losynge, lesyng, lozingge), 5–7 lozeng, 6–7 lossenge, loosing, 6–8 lozange, (8 lozinge), 7– lozenge.
[a. OF. losenge, losange (mod.F. losange) = Sp. losanje, Catal. llosange, It. lozanga; perh. a derivative of the word which appears as Prov. lausa, Sp. losa, Catal. llosa, Pg. lousa, slab, tombstone, ? OF. lauze roofing slate.
It has been suggested that Prov. lausa:—late L. *lapidea (f. lapid-, lapis stone) has been adopted into the other Rom. langs.; the presumed derivative losenge first occurs in Fr. (13th c.).]
1. A plane rectilineal figure, having four equal sides and two acute and two obtuse angles; a rhomb, ‘diamond’. In Heraldry, such a figure used as a bearing, less elongated than the fusil, and placed with its longer axis vertical. † in lozenge = lozengy. grand lozenge, † lozenge in point: a lozenge the angles of which touch the sides of the shield. lozenges in cross: four or more lozenges disposed so as to form a cross.
Guillim's definition (quot. 1610) would require that the acute angles should be of 60°; but the rule is not strictly followed by heraldic draughtsmen.
| [a 1327 in Parker Gloss. Her. s.v., Sire Gerard de Braybrok, de argent a vij lozenges de goules.] ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 893 A [robe] with losenges [F. losenges] and scochouns,..wrought ful wel. c 1384 ― H. Fame iii. 227 Somme crouned were as kinges, With crounes wroght ful of losenges. 1452 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 282 The Bemes shalbe. xij. inche imbowed with lozinggys. 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. F iv b, Off losyngys how and what maner of wyse they be made. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 242 Paper or lyn clothe straked a crosse with losynges make fenestrals in stede of glasen wyndowes. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 802/2 The walles..coloured white & greene losengis, and in euerie losing either a rose or a pomegranat. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iv. xix. (1660) 354 A Losenge differeth from a Fusill in that the space between its two collaterall or middle Angles equals the length of any of the four Geometricall lines whereof it is composed. 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii. 54 Their mutual intersections make three Lozenges at the bottom of every Cell. 1688 R. Holme Armoury i. 95/1 He beareth Or, a Losenge in point, (or extending to all sides of the Escochion) Gules. a 1695 Wood Oxford (O.H.S.) III. 129 Over his head are his armes engraven... Over hers in lozenge, parted per fess, a lozenge counterchanged [etc.]. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 10 Mar., Her shift [was] fastened at the bottom with a great diamond, shaped like a lozenge. 1818–20 E. Thompson Cullen's Nosolog. Method. (ed. 3) 323 Scales have at first the figure and extent of the cuticular lozenges. 1855 Browning Cleon 84 See, in the chequered pavement opposite, Suppose the artist made..a lozenge, then a trapezoid. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 73 The font is panelled in lozenges. |
b. A lozenge-shaped shield upon which the arms of a spinster or widow are emblazoned.
| [1696 Phillips (ed. 5), Lozenge... This figure is particularly us'd in Heraldry, for the Bearings of Women not under Covert Baron.] a 1797 H. Walpole Mem. Geo. III, III. vii. 199 The royal arms in a widow's lozenge were pictured over the bed. 1835 Marryat Olla Podr. xxi, Nine out of ten have the widow's lozenge. 1868 Cussans Her. (1893) 42 note, The custom of emblazoning the arms of ladies upon lozenges did not generally obtain in England until the sixteenth century. |
c. Math. = rhombus. Now only in
spherical lozenge: see
quot.| 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Defin., The thyrd kind is called losenges or diamondes whose sides bee all equall, but it hath neuer a square corner. 1889 Casey Spherical Trigon. 18 If the four sides of a spherical quadrilateral be equal, the diagonals are perpendicular to each other, and they bisect its angles. Such a figure is called a spherical lozenge. |
d. One of the lozenge-shaped facets of a precious stone when cut (see
quots.).
| 1750 Jeffries Treat. Diamonds & Pearls (1751) Explan. Techn. Terms, Lozenges are common to Brilliants and Roses. In Brilliants they are formed by the meeting of the skill and star facets on the bezil: In Roses, by the meeting of the facets In the horizontal ribs of the crown. 1883 A. H. Church Precious Stones 20 The old brilliant-cut..requires..58 facets thus arranged:..4 Quoins or lozenges [etc.]. |
e. Arch. Short for
lozenge moulding.
| 1841 Bloxam Goth. Archit. 69 What were the mouldings principally used in the decoration of Norman churches?.. The cable moulding. The double cone... The lozenge [etc.]. 1850 Parker Gloss. Archit. II. 47 Mouldings and Ornaments... Star... Lozenge... Enriched Lozenge. |
† 2. Cookery.
a. A lozenge-shaped cake.
b. A lozenge-shaped ornament used to garnish a dish.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 44 Lesynges de chare... And þan kytte þe cakys þorw with an knyf in maner of lesyngys. c 1440 Douce MS. 55 lf. 38 b, Cutt hem in the maner of losenges and make feyre batur..& close the sydes of the losynges ther with. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 599 Viand royall plantyd losynges of golde. |
3. A small cake or tablet, originally diamond-shaped, of medicated or flavoured sugar, etc. to be held and dissolved in the mouth. The name is also used,
e.g. in
meat lozenge, for a tablet of a substance (indicated by the prefixed word) in a concentrated form.
| 1530 Palsgr. 241/1 Losange of spyce, losange. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health ii. xvii. 8 Dregges and losanges made to breake wynde. 1591 Treas. Hid. Secrets lvii. C 7, Lay on it your gold leafe,..cut your Losings [1627 Loosings] Diamond fashion, and so keep them. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 583 The Liver of a Wolf being made in the form of a dry Electuary and given as a Lozeng. c 1623 Lodge Poor Man's Talent (1881) 26 It shall not bee amiss to take a loosing of Diaphisopi or Diaireas Salomonis. 1629 Massinger Picture iv. ii, Eate presently These lozenges, of forty crownes an ounce. 1721 N. Hodges Hist. Acc. Plague Lond. 221, I..kept in my mouth some Lozenges all the while I was examining them. 1795 Burke Regic. Peace iv. Wks. IX. 56 Boxes of epigrammatick lozenges. a 1845 Hood To J. Hume v, Talk till hoarse; Have lozenges—mind Dawson's—in your pocket. 1898 Cycling 27 Meat lozenges are far preferable. |
4. One of the lozenge-shaped panes of glass in a casement.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Lozenge,..also a quarry of a glass window. 1882 in Ogilive, and in other recent Dicts. |
5. Manège. (See
quot.)
| 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 341/2 Lozenge, the slang term for a circular piece of leather with a hole in the centre to fit round the mouthpiece of the bit. |
6. attrib. or adj. a. Lozenge-shaped, lozenge-like.
| 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii. 47 The..Lozenge seeds of the noble flower of the Sunne. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 93/1 A Lozenge leaf, or double pointed leaf, or pointed at both ends. c 1790 J. Imison Sch. Art ii. 44 Gravers are of two sorts, square and lozenge. 1862 Rickman Goth. Archit. 382 The lozenge interval is formed by some of the ribs of the fan running though it. |
b. Of or composed of lozenges; ornamented with lozenges. Of strokes: Crossed so as to form lozenge-shaped interstices.
| 1658 Sir T. Browne (title) The Garden of Cyrus or the Quincuncial Lozenge, or Net-work Plantations of the Ancients..Considered. 1688 R. Holme Armoury i. 33/2 The Bends..wrought upon with Fusil or Lozenge work, which consisteth of two colours. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VI. 671/2 The cross strokes ought to be very lozenge. 1812–16 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 156 The pier..became, in its plan, lozenge, and formed the decorated pier. 1823 Rutter Fonthill 36 Their openings are filled with bronze lozenge lattice. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. i. 481, I..stepped out on the narrow terrace..And paced its lozenge-brickwork. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 68 The arches..rich with billet and lozenge ornament. 18.. Archit. Publ. Soc. Dict., Lozenge Molding or Lozenge Fret, an ornament used in Norman Architecture presenting the appearance of diagonal ribs inclosing diamond-shaped panels. |
7. Comb. a. General comb.: simple
attrib., as
lozenge-machine;
lozenge-like adj.; parasynthetic, as
lozenge-figured,
lozenge-shaped adjs.| 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii. 47 Wherein [sc. the Sunflower] in *Lozenge figured boxes nature shuts up the seeds. |
| 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Defin., Ther corners are like the corners of a losing, and therfore ar they named *losengelike. 1859 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 315 The depth of the temporal fossæ,..producing, with the peaked and weakly retreating chin..a lozenge-like aspect. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Lozenge-machine, a machine for rolling out and cutting lozenges. |
| 1833 H. Martineau Three Ages ii. 72 The summer flowers in the *lozenge-shaped parterres. 1860 Reade Cloister & H. (1861) I. 70 The panes were very small and lozenge-shaped. |
b. Special comb.:
lozenge-base, the material used as a ‘base’ in the manufacture of lozenges;
lozenge-coach (
nonce-use), a coach with the owner's coat of arms emblazoned on a lozenge (see 1 b), a dowager's or widow's coach;
lozenge lion, a Scotch gold coin called a ‘lion’, of the reign of
Jas. I. (1406–37), having on the obverse the arms of Scotland in a lozenge shield.
| 1898 Rev. Brit. Pharm. 16 Trochiscus Sulphuris... It is not made with one of the *lozenge-bases. |
| 1746 H. Walpole Let. to Mann 21 Aug., I am retired hither like an old summer dowager; only that I have no toad-eater to take the air with me in the back part of my *lozenge-coach. |
| 1890 Service Notandums ix. 67 There were..Gold Pennies and Mailles, *Lozenge Lions [etc.]. |