Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun rare, obsolete The white shield that was the mark of novice knights, especially in Arthurian legend.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French vierge escu ("virgin shield"). It was white because it lacked a background or devices, which celebrated accomplishments, of which the knight had none.

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Examples

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Comments

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  • http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/thwhite.htm says this is from T.H. White and is "the white shield carried by unfledged knights."

    August 22, 2011

  • "They should have been facing down bellowed challenges from black knights bearing the vergescu, or solving thorny theological dilemmas posed by holy hermits."

    The Magician King by Lev Grossman, p 101

    August 22, 2011