spangle

A small, flat piece of sparkling metallic or metal-like material with a hole which is sewn on to a garment, etc., for decoration; a sequin.

Noun

  1. A small, flat piece of sparkling metallic or metal-like material with a hole which is sewn on to a garment, etc., for decoration; a sequin.
    • The other Knight was all in milke white, his attiring els, all cutte in starres, which made of cloath of silver, and silver spangles, each way seemed to cast many aspects. - c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei...
    • […] I had coſt his Majeſty above a million and a half of Sprugs, (their greateſt Gold Coin, about the bigneſs of a Spangle;) and upon the whole, that it would be adviſeable in the Emperor to take the firſt fair Occaſion...
    • A tawdry scarf of yellow silk, trimmed with tinsel and spangles, which had seen as hard service, and boasted as honourable a transmission, was next flung over one shoulder, and fell across her person in the manner of a...

    Synonyms: paillette

  2. Any small sparkling object.
    • There they doe finde that godly aged Sire, / VVith ſnowy lockes adowne his ſhoulders ſhed, / As hoary froſt with ſpangles doth attire / The moſſy braunches of an Oke halfe ded. - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”,...
    • And all the ſhrubs, vvith ſparkling ſpangles, ſhevv / Like Morning-Sun-ſhine tinsilling the devv. - 1648, Robert Herrick, “The Apparition of His Mistresse Calling Him to Elizium”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both...

    1. A shiny particle of a mineral.

      • There wanted good Refiners; for thoſe that tooke vpon them to haue skill this way, tooke vp the waſhings from the mountaines, and ſome moskered ſhining ſtones and ſpangles which the waters brought downe, flattering...
      • The surface texture [of galvanized metal] can also be controlled and, in particular, the classical spangle finish can be eliminated. The spangle finish of galvanized strip is quite unsuitable for certain applications,...

    2. (figuratively) A star.

      • Thus in a Starry night fond children cry / For the rich ſpangles that adorn the Sky; / Which though they ſhine for ever fixed there, / With light and influence relieve us here. - 1645, Edmond Waller [i.e., Edmund...
      • See round the Poles where keener ſpangles ſhine, / Where ſpices ſmoke beneath the burning Line, / (Earths wide extreams) her ſable flag diſplay'd; / And all the nations cover'd in her ſhade! - 1728, [Alexander Pope],...
      • [N]ight closed with a blue and cloudless sky, in which the thousand spangles that deck the firmament received double brilliancy from some slight touch of frost, although the paler planet, their mistress, was but in her...
  3. A point of light; also (rare), a glitter, a sparkle.
    • Mariner, mariner, furl your sails, / For here are the blissful downs and dales, / And merrily, merrily carol the gales, / And the spangle dances in bight and bay, / And the rainbow forms and flies on the land / Over the...
  4. A speckle or spot, especially on the body of an animal.
    • In the male [mille fleur booted bantam] the general plumage color is red with the tip of each feather ending in a V-shaped, white spangle which is separated from the red portion of the feather by a black bar. […] The...
    • The Golden-Spangled Hamburg has an attractive pattern, the plumage over the body being golden bay, each feather ending with an elongated, greenish-black spangle. […] The spangles of the wing coverts should form two...
    • In summer, mated female wasps deposit large numbers of eggs in the tissue on the underside of expanded oak leaves, inducing the formation of characteristic spangle galls. […] Spangle galls often occur in vast numbers,...
  5. Any of a number of swallowtail butterflies (genus Papilio); specifically Papilio protenor.
    • The female is unusually beautiful with grayish-brown wings hemmed by velvet black, while the male, resembling the black-winged Long-tail Spangle (Onaga-ageha) [Papilio macilentus], has unique vermillion marks on the...
    • [page 25] Papilio protenor euprotenor Fruhstorfer, 1908 / The Spangle was mentioned from Bangladesh by Collins & Morris (1985); it is quite likely in the Srimangal forests since it occurs in the Khasi Hills at low...
    • Spangle butterfly (Papilio protenor) photographed in Tokyo, Japan. - 2008, Martin J. Hodson, Margot R. Hodson, “Caring as Communities”, in Cherishing the Earth: How to Care for God’s Creation, Oxford, Oxfordshire; Grand...

Origin

The noun is derived from Middle English spangel (“small piece of ornamental metal, spangle; small ornament”) [and other forms], from spang (“small piece of ornamental metal, spangle; small ornament; type of bowl or cup”) + -el (diminutive suffix). Spang is derived from Middle Dutch spange, spaenge (“buckle, clasp; brooch; spangle”) (modern Dutch spang (“clasp; hook; metal hairband; metal pin”)), from Middle Low German spangel (“small chain or clasp”), from Proto-Germanic *spangō (“brooch; clasp”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- (“to twist; to weave”). The English word is analysable as spang + -le (diminutive suffix). The verb is derived from the noun.

Forms

spangles

Derived

spanglet spangly Spangold

Verb

  1. To fix spangles or sparkling objects to (something); to bespangle.
    • What ſtars do ſpangle heauen with ſuch beautie, / As thoſe two eyes become that heauenly face? - c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies,...
    • Chapadór, m. one that plateth ouer, or ſpangleth. - 1599, Iohn Minsheu [i.e., John Minsheu], “Chapadór”, in A Dictionarie in Spanish and English, […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, →OCLC, page 65, column 2:
    • This is Timons laſt, / Who ſtucke and ſpangled you with Flatteries, / Waſhes it off, and ſprinkles in your faces / Your reeking villany. - c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”,...
  2. To adorn or decorate (something).
    • It seems it is in fashion with you to sugar your papers with Carnation phrases, and spangle your speeches with new quodled words. - 1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in...
    • On the morning of July 31, the mountain rose spangled in the summer sun 2,300 feet above Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli. Strapping on three oxygen tanks, the two men faced toward K2's last fastness. - 1954...
  3. To flash, glitter, or sparkle.
    • The gifts are differing, being diverse; their administrations are differing, and the operations of them also are differing, though all those things are from that one and the self-same Spirit, working in every one...

    Synonyms: coruscate scintillate

Forms

spangles spangling spangled no-table-tags glossary spangle spanglest spangledst spangleth -

Derived

bespangle spangled spangled kookaburra spangler spangling Star-Spangled Banner unspangled