▪ I. pendant, -ent, n.
(ˈpɛndənt)
Forms: 4–6 pendaunte, (4–5 -aunt, 5 -awnt), 4–5 pendande, (4 -aunde, 5–6 -and, 6 -on), 5 pennaunt, 7 -ant, 5– pendant, -ent.
[a. F. pendant (13th c. in Littré), n. use of pr. pple. of pendre to hang.]
I. = F. pendant = pente, slope.
† 1. Slope, declivity, inclination (of a hill, etc.). Obs. (So in OF.) Cf. hanging, hang n.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 109 Þe water, þat falleþ dounward and souþward wiþ þe pendaunt toward Ierusalem, takeþ no defoul. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. xcviii. (1869) 111 Up on þe pendaunt of an hidous valey, foul and deep and derk. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lxxxiii. 123 Lowe moyst wooddes, standing in the pendant or hanging of hilles. c 1600 Norden Spec. Brit., Cornw. (1728) 98 The towne seateth nere the nauigable Tamar, on the bendinge or pendent of a hill. 1641 Heylin Help to Hist. (1671) 358. |
II. Something that hangs or is suspended.
2. A loose hanging part of anything, usually of an ornamental character, as a knob, bead, tassel, etc.; now, chiefly, an ornament of some precious metal or stone, attached to a bracelet, necklace, etc.; rarely, an ornamental fringe.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 168 Þe pendauntes of his payttrure. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 7 As persones in pellure with pendauntes of syluer. c 1400 Melayne 994 He tuke þ⊇ pendande in his hande. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 735/10 (Nomina Vestimentorum) Hoc pendulum, a pendand. 1555 Eden Decades 79 Hanginges made of gossampine silke..hauing golden belles and suche other spangles and pendauntes as the Italians caule Sonaglios. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies v. xxix. 419 A litter well furnished with curtins and pendants of diverse fashions. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. iii. iii. (1651) 473 Why do they..deck themselves with pendants, bracelets, ear-rings, chains [etc.]? 1695 J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 242 Rebekah was presented..with this forehead-pendant as a pledg. 1876 J. R. Planché Cycl. Costume, Pendants,..the ornaments appended to necklaces. 1877 J. D. Chambers Div. Worship 52 Stoles and Maniples, all with pendants of gold and gems. |
† b. spec. The end of a knight's belt or lady's girdle which remained hanging down after passing through the buckle, and was usually fashioned as an ornament.
Obs.| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2038 Bot wered not þis ilk wyȝe for wele þis gordel, For pryde of þe pendauntez, þaȝ polyst þay were. 1420 E.E. Wills (1882) 45 A gurdill of blake sylke.., with a gode bokyll & a pendaunt, & in þe same pendaunt an ymage of seynt Christofre. 1463 in Bury Wills (Camden) 16 To John Hert my gyrdyll with a bokyll and pendaunth of siluir, Grace me gouerne wretyn ther in. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 239 The buckles and pendentes were all of fyne golde. 1577 Dee Relat. Spir. ii. (1659) 24 She hath a girdle of beaten gold slackly buckled unto her with a pendant of gold down to the ground. |
c. spec. The pendant part of an ear-ring, an ear-drop. (Common in 17th c.)
| 1555 Eden Decades 161 The men and the women haue pendauntes of gold and precious stones hanginge at their eares. 1564 A. Jenkinson in Hakluyt's Voy. (1598) I. 346 His earerings had pendants of golde, a handfull long. 1589 Nashe Returne of Pasquill Wks. (Grosart) I. 138 By Gods helpe, I will hang such a payre of pendents at both your eares. a 1657 Lovelace Poems (1864) 232 Hang a poetick pendant in her ear. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2340/2 His Eldest Daughter not delivering her Pendants quickly they cut off her Ears with them. 1738 Glover Leonidas iii. 284 Their ears grac'd with pendants. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 56 A plump Flanders lass, with long gold pendants in her ears. 1882–3 Schaff Encycl. Relig. Knowl. I. 501 So-called ear-pendants..were also attached to the ear-rings. |
d. Transferred applications.
| c 1586 M. Roydon Elegie Astrophel i, The garnisht tree no pendant stird. 1631 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlew. (1641) 295 The poynt or pendent of her feather wags out of a due posture. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1767) I. 128 Not a Blade of Grass, not a single Leaf, but wears the watery Pendants. 1841–4 Emerson Ess. Ser. ii. iii. (1876) 78 Man, ordinarily a pendant to events, only half attached. |
† 3. A natural hanging part.
Obs. † a. pl. = testes.
Obs. (So in
OF.)
| c 1325 Metr. Hom. 55 He schar al awai ful rathe His members and his penndanz bathe. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 15 They gird themselues with a piece of raw leather, and fasten a square peece like the backe of a Gloue, to it, which almost hangs so low as their pendants. 1638 Ford Fancies i. ii, Twit me with the decrements of my pendants? Though I am made a gelding [etc.]. |
† b. Bot. An anther.
Obs.| 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 51 The chives which grow out of red Pinks, and which are tipped with red Pendents, be⁓smeared over with a small Mealy Powder. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Pendants, among florists, a kind of seeds, growing on stamina, or chives. 1790 Bailey, Pendants (in Botany) are the male Part of a Flower called Apices, placed on the Top of those Threads which are termed by Botanists Stamina. |
4. Applied to mechanical constructions.
† a. A plumb-line.
Obs. rare.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 392/1 Pendawnt, of wrytys crafte, or masunry, pendicula. 1530 Palsgr. 253/1 Pendant for carpenters, niueau. |
† b. A pendulum.
Obs.| 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies ix. 74 Galileo..sayth that to make the same pendant goe twice as fast as it did,..you must [etc.]. 1653 Gauden Hierasp. 253 Like weighty Pendants once violently swayed beyond the perpendicular line and poyse, they are a long time before they recover the point of fixation and consistency. |
c. A hanging chandelier or gaselier.
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Pendant, a hanging burner for gas. 1903 Daily Chron. 20 Jan. 8/1 An escape of gas from a sliding pendant in the room. |
† d. A pendent escutcheon, a hanging shield.
| 1629 Dekker Londons Tempe Wks. 1873 IV. 125 On the four angles, or corners over the termes, are placed four pendants with armes in them. Ibid. 127 At the four angles of it, four pendants play with the wind. 1727 Bailey vol. II, Pendants (with Heralds), pendant escutcheons. |
5. Arch. a. In the Decorated and Perpendicular styles: A knop or other terminal (often richly carved) together with the stem suspending it, hanging from a vault or from the framing of an open timber roof.
b. In
Carpentry, A similar object, usually less ornate, on the lower end of the newel at the angle of a staircase when this projects below the string.
c. A carved (chiefly in bas-relief) or pictorial representation of fruit, flowers, etc., in a hanging position, as an ornamental or decorative feature.
| 1322 Ely Sacrist Roll in Willis Archit. Nomencl. (1844) 45 In cariagio et excisione petr' empt'.apud Swaffham quæ vocatur pendaunt. 1427–8 Ibid., Un arche d'alabastre..avec pendants et knottes. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1315/2 In the top of this house was wrought..upon Canuas, works of iuie and hollie with pendents made of wicker rods. 1620 in Swayne Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896) 171 Turninge of Banisters and pendantes, 8s. 1662 Gerbier Princ. 6 Pendants, Garlands,..and an infinite number of Ornaments, which are put on the Frize. 1838 Parker Gloss. Archit. (ed. 2), Pendant, Pendent, a sculptured ornament hanging from a Gothic roof, either of stone or wood; chiefly used in the latest, or Perpendicular style. 1842–76 Gwilt Archit. Gloss. s.v., The pendent was also used very frequently to timber-framed roofs, as in that of Crosby Hall, which has a series of pendents along the centre of it. 1859 Parker Dom. Archit. III. iii. 59 Pendants are more commonly used in the roofs of halls than in those of churches. 1868 Chambers's Encycl. IX. 76/2 Staircases..had usually massive oak balusters..and were ornamented with carved panels, pendants, &c. |
6. Arch. In open timber roofs:
a. A wooden post placed against the wall, usually resting on a corbel, its upper end secured to the hammer-beam or to the lower end of the principal rafter; also called
pendant-post.
b. A spandrel formed by the side-post, the curved brace, and the tie-beam or the hammer-beam.
c. In stone-work: A shaft worked on the masonry of the wall, supporting the ribs of a vault or an arch or the pendant-post of an open timber roof, and resting on a corbel or terminating in a decorated boss.
| [1359: see pendant-post in 14.] 1452 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 282 Principal Bemys with braces and pendaunttes... Item, atte euery end of the pendaunt shalbe a angell. 1579 Ibid. 310 Pendons to the principals, eche of vj foote longe. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. x. 6 It was a bridge ybuilt in goodly wize With curious Corbes and pendants graven faire. 1706 Phillips, Pendent, a Supporter of Stone in Building. 1875 Parker Gloss. Archit. (ed. 4), Pendant This name was also formerly used for the spandrels very frequently found in Gothic roofs under the ends of the tie⁓beams, which are sustained at the bottom by corbels or other supports projecting from the walls. In this position it is usually called a Pendant-post. 1879 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. II. 226 These columns being converted into pendants, the structural arches supply the support demanded. |
7. Naut. (
rigging pendant.) A short rope hanging from the head of a (main or fore) mast, yard-arm, or clew of a sail, and having at its lower end a block or a thimble spliced to an eye for receiving the hooks of the fore and main tackles. Also a similar device used in other parts of a ship. Also called
pennant.
Often with qualification, defining position or purpose, as
brace-,
fish-,
reef-tackle-,
stay-tackle-,
yard-tackle-,
rudder-pendant.
| 1485 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 36 Double pendaunts..viij, Single pendaunts..viij. Ibid. 37 Pendaunts with double poleis [= pullies]..ij. Ibid., Brasse pendaunts for the mayne yerdes.. ij. 1495 Ibid. 255–6. 1497 Ibid. 327 Pendantes for Bower takles. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. v. 20 A Pendant is a short rope made fast at one end to the head of the Mast or the Yards arme, hauing at the other end a blocke with a shiuer to reeue some running rope in. 1723 Lond. Gaz. No. 6129/3 Eleven Inch Cable laid Pendant. 1776 Falconer Dict. Marine, Pendent, pantoire, is also a short piece of rope, fixed under the shrouds, upon the head of the main-mast and fore-mast, from which it depends as low as the cat-harpings, having an eye in the lower end which is armed with an iron thimble... There are..many other pendents..which are generally single or double ropes, to whose lower extremities is attached a block, or tackle. c 1825 J. Choyce Log Jack Tar (1891) 4 We..secured it [the rudder] to the stern post by means of pendants and tackles. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xii. 5 The pendants..are unwound evenly as the boat descends into the water. |
b. Irish pendant (jocular), any rope yarn, reef-point, gasket, etc., hanging loose.
| 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxii. (1854) 124 There was no rust, no dirt, no rigging hanging slack, no fag ends of ropes and ‘Irish pendants’ aloft. |
† 8. Used by confusion for
pennon.
Obs.| 1552 Huloet, Banners, pendauntes, or Standers, splayed in battayle, signa infesta. 1632 Sherwood, A Penon (or Pendant) in a ship, or on the top of a horsemans staffe. 1644 Evelyn Diary 20 Oct., Over which hang divers banners and pendants, with other trophies taken by them from the Turkes. |
b. A pennon-shaped wind-vane. [
mod.F.
penon.]
| 1860 Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 25 A..roof..surmounted by an iron weather pendant. |
9. Naut. A tapering flag, very long in the fly and short in the hoist;
spec. that flown at the mast-head of a vessel in commission, unless distinguished by a flag or broad pendant (see b).
The flying of the pendant at half-mast denotes the death of the captain, its absence that the vessel is out of commission.
[In this sense presumably a corruption of
pennon (
q.v.); perhaps by assimilation to sense 7 above; but
pendant has been in official use from the earliest date to which the name has as yet been traced, though the accepted pronunciation is
pennant, which has also been the most common non-official spelling since
c 1690.]
| 1485 Nav. Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 40 Gittons of Say; Standardes of Say;..Stremers of Say; Pendauntes of Say for the Crane lyne. 1495 Ibid. 260 Baners of say..Gyttornes of say..Pendantes of say with Rede Crosses and Roses. Ibid. 273. 1588 Survey of the ‘Ark Royal’ in Defeat of Armada II. 246 Streamers xiiii; Pendants xvi;..Flaggs of St. George iii. 1599 Minsheu Sp. Dict., Gallardétes, streamers or pendents in ships. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xv. (Roxb.) 48/2 Pendant or Streamers, are those colours, which are hung out on the yard Armes, or from the head of the masts..to beautifie the ship. 1712 Lond. Gaz. No. 5051/3 The Contractors for furnishing Her Majesty's Navy with Colours (as Ensigns, Jacks, Pendants and Fanes). 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 4, I will hoist a Pendant at my Mizen-Peak. 1797 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 346, I hoisted my Pendant on the Irresistible. 1825 H. B. Gascoigne Nav. Fame 59 Our warlike Pendant, master of the seas. 1854 Tait's Mag. XXI. 268 With vigorous stroke of oar and pendant flying fair. |
| fig. 1687 Advise to Testholders ix. in Third Coll. Poems (1689) 21/2 Herbert, whose fall a greater blow did feel, From topmast pendant to the lower Keel. 1711 Shaftesbury Charact., Moralists ii. iv, Consider where we are, and in what a universe!..when instead of seeing to the highest pendants, we see only some lower deck, and are..confin'd even to the hold and meanest station of the vessel. |
b. broad pendant: a short swallow-tailed pendant flown as the distinctive mark of a commodore's ship in a squadron.
| 1716 Lond. Gaz. No. 5485/3 The Swedish Fleet with two Flags and seven broad Pendants. 1743 Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 2 The Commodore hoisted his broad Pendant, and was saluted by every Ship in the Squadron. 1813 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. XI. 244, I beg leave to congratulate you upon your hoisting a broad pendant. 1882 Navy List July 451 Table Money is..payable only while Flag or Broad Pendant is flying within the limits of Station. |
c. A ship-of-war with pendant flying.
| 1802 G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 480 There were..101 sail of pendants. |
† 10. Her. = lambeau.
Obs. rare.
| 1634 Peacham Gentl. Exerc. iii. 151 It [a label] is a kind of fillet,..it is the difference of the elder brother, the father being alive, it is drawne of two, three, four, or five pendants, not commonly above. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Pendant..a term applied to the parts hanging down from the label. |
III. 11. That by which something is hung or suspended: in
quot. 1580, a ring or the like for a bunch of keys; now
spec. that part of a watch by which it is suspended, consisting of the pendant-shank or stem and the pendant-ring or bow.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Pendant de clefs, a pendant or thing that hangeth. 1611 Cotgr., Pendant, a pendant; a hanger; any thing that hangeth, or whereat another thing hangs. 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1363/4 Lost..a gold Chain Watch,..the Christal and Pendant Ring broken off. 1721 Ibid. No. 6002/3 Lost.., a Gold repeating Watch, Name..engraved on the inner Case under the Pendant. 1824 in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1825) 50 John Sheen made such a desperate tug at his watch, that the pendant broke. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 24 In the rack with pendant up for twelve hours it [a watch] is found to have lost 8 s... With pendant down for twelve hours it is found to have lost 2 s. |
b. Anything suspended or hung up: in
quot. a votive offering.
rare.
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. i. iii. i. (1651) 225 æsculapius..his temple was daily full of patients, and as many severall tables, inscriptions, pendants, donaries, &c{ddd}as at this day at our Lady of Loretta's. |
12. A thing,
esp. a picture, forming a parallel, match, or companion to another; a match, companion-piece. Also said of a person. Often pronounced as French (
pɑ̃dɑ̃).
[‘Il se dit de deux objets d'art à peu près pareils, et destinés à figurer ensemble en se correspondant’ (Littré).]
| 1788 W. Eden in G. Rose's Diaries (1860) I. 78 It [a mere red ribbon] certainly would be considered as a pendant or companion to the Duke of Dorset's blue ribbon. 1809 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. IV. 565, I think the chace out of Portugal is a pendant for the retreat to Corunna. 1848 A. Jameson Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850) 287 When St. Catharine is grouped with other saints, her usual pendant is St. Barbara. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. lxii, The figure of Mirah..made a strange pendant to this shabby, foreign-looking, eager, and gesticulating man. |
b. An additional statement, consideration, etc. which completes or complements another; a complement, counterpart.
| 1841 Miss Sedgwick Lett. Abr. I. 93 Mr. B. told a pendant to this pretty story. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. lxii. (1865) VII. 401 The narrative of the historian forms a fitting pendant to that of the satirist. 1884 Standard 4 Mar. 5/2 The article called ‘Rich Men's Dwellings’ was avowedly a pendant to the paper..of Lord Salisbury on ‘Labourers and Artisans' Dwellings’. |
† 13. pl. Pending or unsettled matters; ‘unpaid claims’ (
Jam.).
Obs.| 1492 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 206 Sowme of thir pendentis .v{supc}xv li. vjs. viijd. Of the quhilkis the comptare sais he has obligacionis and in his bukis. |
IV. 14. attrib. and
Comb., as
pendant-ring,
pendant-shank (see sense 11);
pendant-like,
pendant-shaped adjs.;
pendant-wise adv.;
† pendant-bearer, pennon-bearer, ensign;
pendant-bow, the ring or ‘bow’ of a watch-stem (
bow n.1 11);
pendant-fittings, hanging fittings for electric light;
pendant-post Arch. = sense 6 a;
pendant-tackle: see
quot.;
pendant-winding a., said of a keyless watch which is wound by rotating the pendant-shank or stem; called also
stem-winding.
| 1552 Huloet, *Pendant bearer, signifer. |
| 1901 Waterhouse Conduit Wiring 39 Using *pendant-fittings in place of ceiling roses. |
| a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 183 In Stars..by the Seraphs in Mosaick wrought, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, Wav'd *pendent-like. |
| 1359 Ely Sacrist Roll in Parker Gloss. Archit. (1850) 346 In xii lapidibus pro *pendaunt postes portandis... In viii magnis arboribus quercinis pro postes pendaunts. 1850 Parker Gloss. Archit., Pendent post, in a mediæval principal roof truss, is a short post placed against the wall, the lower end rests upon a corbel or capital, the upper end is fixed to the tie-beam. 1875 [see sense 6]. |
| 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 108/1 The *pendant-shank or push-piece. |
| 1895 Westm. Gaz. 29 July 8/1 Four large *pendant-shaped pearls set in diamond cups. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 666/1 *Pendant Tackle,..a tackle rigged from the masthead pendant. |
| 1875 Ibid. 1660/1 *Pendant-winding Watch. |
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 14 How be it the myddle parte..onely heldith *pendand wise or lokith downwarde. |
Hence
ˈpendanted a., having or furnished with pendants;
ˈpendanting n., pendants collectively, or as a kind of work.
| 1664 Evelyn Acc. Archit. in Freart's Archit. etc. 131 The Masonry at the front of these [Arches] being cut by a peculiar slope of the Stone is call'd Pennanted, till it come to joyn with the mensula. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 163 A regular and valuable series, from the plain Norman round arched roof, to the elaborate pendanted roof of Henry the VII's chapel. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. I. xxix. §4, I would rather..have a plain ridged Gothic vault, with all its rough stones visible..than all the fanning and pendanting and foliation that ever bewildered Tudor wight. |
[4.] [c.] For
def. read: A hanging light,
esp. one designed to hang from the ceiling. (Further examples.)
| 1890 Brit. Pat. Application 18,558 1 In addition to having a brake as aforesaid the pendant may have a telescopic sliding tube to cover the wire. 1907 Army & Navy Stores Price List 269 (heading) Brass, wrought iron, and old silver finish pendants, brass bracket, &c., for electric light. Wiring extra. 1917 Harrods Catal. 1185 (heading) Electroliers and pendants. 1939 Army & Navy Stores Gen. Price List 1939–40 260, 5-light Pendant... Wired complete with fittings. 1975 A. Ayckbourn Living Together in Norman Conquests 34 She switches out the pendant, depriving Annie of most of her reading light. 1982 Habitat Catal. 1982/83 110 Bright spun aluminium pendants in five colours with white interior. |
▪ II. pendant, a. (prep.) the earlier but now less usual spelling of
pendent a.
A. adj. = pendent a.,
q.v. † B. quasi-prep. = pending prep. [
= F.
pendant.]
Obs. rare.
| 1642 tr. Perkins' Prof. Bk. ix. §598. 259 Issue in taile bringeth a Formedon against the discontinuee, and pendant the suit sheweth the deed of entail [= ‘the suit being pendant’]. |