pennon

Noun

pennon (plural pennons)

1. (historical) A long, narrow flag or streamer, often swallowtailed or triangular, usually hung at the top of a helmet or lance, originally the ensign of a knight under the rank of knight banneret, and later of a lancer regiment.
   • Her yellovv lockes criſped, like golden vvyre, / About her ſhoulders vveren looſely ſhed, / And vvhen the vvinde emongſt them did inſpyre, / They vvaued like a penon vvyde diſpred / And lovv behinde her backe vvere ſcattered: […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30, page 227
   • High on his pointed lance his Pennon bore / His Cretan Fight, the conquer'd Minotaure: […]1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 5
2. (broadly) Any banner or flag.
   • Ceſar perceyuing the camp of hys enemyes to be empty, rolled vp his banners, and hid the penons and anteſignes of his ſouldiers, and conueying hys ſouldiers by ſlender companies out of hys greater camp into the leſſer, to thentent [the intent] it ſhould not be perceiued out of the towne, […]1565, Caius Julius Caesar, “The Seventh Boke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The Eyght Bookes of Caius Julius Cæsar Conteyning His Martiall Exploytes in the Realme of Gallia and the Countries Bordering...
   • Barre Harry England, that ſvveepes through our Land / VVith Penons painted in the blood of Harflevv: / Ruſh on his Hoaſt, as doth the melted Snovv / Vpon the Valleyes, vvhoſe lovv Vaſſal Seat, / The Alpes doth ſpit, and void his rhevvme vpon.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
3. (archaic, broadly, poetic) Synonym of pinion (“a wing”).
   • [S]odainly there descended before him, as his face was bent towards the earth, an Angell, whose wings had glorious Pennons, and whose face glistered as the beames of the Sunne, […]1630, Henry Lord, “The Religion of the Persees. Chapter IV.”, in A Display of Two Forraigne Sects in the East Indies vizt: The Sect of the Banians the Ancient Natiues of India and the Sect of the...
   • Fluttring his pennons vain plumb dovvn he [Satan] drops / Ten thousand fadom deep, […]1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature...

   Synonyms:

   pinion

4. (broadly) A heraldic charge in the form of a pennon (sense 1).
5. (broadly) Synonym of pennant (“a flag or streamer used on a ship”).
   • Lincolne a Ship moſt neatly that vvas lim'd, / In all her Sailes vvith Flags and Pennons trim'd.1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “The Battaile of Agincourt”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC, page 15
   • Fair Commerce vvav'd her pennons in our ports; / The fertile plough ſubdu'd our ſterile fields; / Our granaries, like thoſe of Egypt, drevv / From neighb'ring countries, riches and renovvn.c. 1777 (date written), [Hannah] Cowley, The Maid of Arragon, a Tale, […] Part I, London: […] T. Spilsbury, for L. Davis, T[homas] Longman, J[ames] Dodsley, T[homas] Cadell, W. Owen, S. Crowder...

   Synonyms:

   pennant

6. (broadly, obsolete) A Knight Bachelor; also, a soldier who carries an ensign.
   • The Duke of Brabant had .xxiiij. Banners and .lxxx. Pennons, and in all, .vij. thouſand men.1569, Richard Grafton, “Edwarde the Thirde”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey...
   • Surely he [George Purient] vvas a man of merit, being Penon or Enſign-bearer to one Eſquire, of the body to three ſucceſſive Kings, and M[aste]r of the Horſe to one of their Queens, to vvhom his vvife vvas chief Lady of Honour.a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Hartford-shire”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC...
7. (broadly, obsolete, rare) An ornament that dangles or hangs down.
8. (figuratively) Something resembling a pennon (sense 1).
   • [A] pillar of dark smoke, which ascended from the chimnies of the donjon, and spread its long dusky pennon through the clear ether, indicated that it was inhabited.1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John...
   • There were little factory villages, too, or larger towns, with their tall chimneys, and their pennons of black smoke, their ugliness of brick-work, and their heaps of refuse matter from the furnace, which seems to be the only kind of stuff which Nature cannot take back to herself and resolve into...1863, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Pilgrimage to Old Boston”, in Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 163