gorget

gorget

See also: görget

English

A gorget which protects the throat.

A gorget (with and without spaulders) which covers the upper chest.

Etymology

From Middle English gorget, from Old French gorgete, from gorge (“throat”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔːdʒɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔɹ.d͡ʒɪt/, /ˈɡɔɹ.d͡ʒət/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

gorget (plural gorgets)

1. (historical) A piece of armour protecting the throat and/or the upper part of the chest.

   Synonyms: neckplate, hausse-col, (less common) gorgerin, (less common) gorgerette

   • 1662, [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, OCLC 963614346, canto 2:

     About his neck a threefold gorget, / As rough as trebled leathern target

   • 1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], OCLC 1001655651:

     Unfix the gorget's iron clasp.

   • 1968, Michael Moorcock, The Mad God's Amulet, Gollancz 2003, page 209:

     Hawkmoon whipped his sword from the scabbard, leaped forward, and drove the blade into the throat of the warrior just below his gorget.

   • 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, page 500:

     Renly lifted his chin to allow Brienne to fasten his gorget in place.

2. (historical) A crescent-shaped ornamental metal plate suspended around the neck from the crescent's points by a length of chain or ribbon. It was used to indicate rank or authority and was worn as part of a full-dress military uniform by officers. It symbolically represented the neck-armor worn by officers in previous centuries.
3. (historical) A type of women's clothing covering the neck and breast; a wimple.

   Synonym: (less common) gorgerette

4. An ornament for the neck; a necklace, ornamental collar, torque etc.
5. (surgery) A cutting instrument used in lithotomy.

   Synonym: (obsolete) gorgeret

6. A grooved instrument used in performing various operations; called also blunt gorget.[1]
7. (zoology) A crescent-shaped coloured patch on the neck of a bird or mammal.
   • 1917, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:

     There was […] the golden-winged woodpecker, with his crimson crest, his broad black gorget, and splendid plumage […]

8. (UK, dialect, Cornwall) A hake caught in a net set for other fish.

Derived terms

• gorget hummer
• gorgeted

Translations

armour

Catalan: gola (ca) f, gorjal m French: gorgerin (fr) m, hausse-col (fr) m Galician: gorgueira (gl) f German: Ringkragen m, Halsberge f Italian: gorgiera (it) f Japanese: 喉当て (nodoate) Korean: 고지트 (gojiteu) Lithuanian: goržetas m Maltese: gurgiera f Norwegian: Bokmål: ringkrage m, ringkrave m Nynorsk: ringkrage m Persian: طوقه‎ (fa) Polish: ryngraf (pl) m Portuguese: gorjal (pt) m, gorjeira f Russian: горже́т (ru) m (goržét) Spanish: gorjal (es) m Swedish: ringkrage c Ukrainian: горже́т m (horžét) Uzbek: Cyrillic: горжет (uz) (gorjet) Roman: gorjet

women's clothing

French: gorgerette (fr) f, gorgerin (fr) m German: Brusttuch n

ornament for the neck

Catalan: gola (ca) f French: hausse-col (fr) m German: Halsberge f, Ringkragen m

References

1. 1839, Robley Dunglison, “GORGET”, in Medical Lexicon. A New Dictionary of Medical Science, […], 2nd edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, successors to Carey and Co., OCLC 6188056:

• gorget in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913