garlands

Noun

garland (plural garlands)

1. A circular or linear decoration, especially one of plaited flowers or leaves, worn on the body or draped as a decoration.
   • Bestow a Garland only on a Bier1717, Alexander Pope, The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], →OCLC
2. An accolade or mark of honour.
3. A metal gutter placed round a mineshaft on the inside, to catch water running down inside the shaft and run it into a drainpipe.
4. The crown of a monarch.
   • [She] ioyfully receyued and welcommed mee, as the onely type and garland of her noble ſtirpe and linage, […]1569, Richard Grafton, “Henry the Seuenth”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye...
5. (dated) A book of extracts in prose or poetry; an anthology.
   • They [ballads] began to be collected into little miscellanies under the name of garlands.1765, Thomas Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
6. The top; the thing most prized.
   • And call him noble that was now your hate, / Him vile that was your garland.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

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