pennons

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
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...
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...

   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

   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...

See all 8 meanings of pennon