ˈchamfrain, -fron arch.
Also 5 shawfron, shamfron, 6 chaufrayne, 7 -frain, 9 chamfrain, -fron, (champfrein); see also chaffron and its variants.
[a. OF. chaufrain, chanfrain (Cotgr. has both), in mod.F. chanfrein, of unknown origin. (Certainly quite a distinct word from chanfrein, chamfer.) The corruptions cheveronne and chieffront occur in 15th and 16th c.]
The frontlet of a barded or armed horse.
| 1465 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 287 To hym that made the shawfron, iiijs. ijd. Ibid. 288 shamfron. 1530 Palsgr. 204/1 Chaufrayne, a pece of harnesse for a horse, chaufrain. 1688 R. Holme Armoury i. 4 Plumes, bards, chaufrains, caparisons. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe ii, His gallant war-horse..fully accoutred for battle, with a chamfron or plaited head-piece upon his head. 1840–5 Barham Ingol. Leg. (1877) 360 Grey Dolphin's chamfrain more than once dipped beneath the wave. 1884 St. James's Gaz. 20 June 11/2 A champfrein, chased with a combat of two horsemen. |