Library / English Dictionary

PENNON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wing of a bird

Synonyms:

pennon; pinion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("pennon" is a kind of...):

wing (a movable organ for flying (one of a pair))

Holonyms ("pennon" is a part of...):

bird (warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A long flag; often tapering

Synonyms:

pennant; pennon; streamer; waft

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("pennon" is a kind of...):

flag (emblem usually consisting of a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pennon"):

pennoncel; pennoncelle; penoncel (a small pennant borne on a lance)

Credits

 Context examples: 

It goes to my heart that you should ride forth now a mere knight bachelor, when there is no noble in the land who hath so good a claim to the square pennon, save only that you have not the money to uphold it.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And now, could Sir Nigel have shown the bachelles of land which the laws of rank required, he might well have cut his forked pennon into a square banner, and taken such a following into the field as would have supported the dignity of a banneret.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He bore no arms save the long and heavy sword which hung at his saddle-bow; but Terlake carried in front of him the high wivern-crested bassinet, Ford the heavy ash spear with swallow-tail pennon, while Alleyne was entrusted with the emblazoned shield.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Banneret or bachelor, square pennon or forked, I would not give a denier for the difference, and the less since Sir John Chandos, chosen flower of English chivalry, is himself but a humble knight.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Here fluttered many an outland pennon, bearing symbol and blazonry from the banks of the Danube, the wilds of Lithuania and the mountain strongholds of Hungary; for chivalry was of no clime and of no race, nor was any land so wild that the fame and name of the prince had not sounded through it from border to border.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)