Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A string or garland, as of leaves or flowers, suspended in a loop or curve between two points.
- noun A representation of such a string or garland, as in painting or sculpture.
- transitive verb To decorate with or as if with festoons; hang festoons on.
- transitive verb To form or make into festoons.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To form in festoons; adorn with festoons; connect by festoons.
- noun A British collectors' name for a European limacodid moth, Apoda testudo, yellow-brown in color with narrow brown stripes arranged like a festoon.
- noun A string or chain of any material suspended between two points; specifically, a chain or garland of flowers, ribbons, foliage, etc., suspended so as to form one or more depending curves.
- noun In architecture, a sculptured ornament in imitation of a garland of fruits, leaves, or flowers suspended between two points; an encarpus. See cut under
encarpus . - noun A form of drooping cloud sometimes seen on the under surface of dense cirro-stratus clouds. Also called
pocky cloud . - noun In ornithology, specifically, a lobe on the cutting edge of a hawk's beak.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To form in festoons, or to adorn with festoons.
- noun A garland or wreath hanging in a depending curve, used in decoration for festivals, etc.; anything arranged in this way.
- noun (Arch. & Sculp.) A carved ornament consisting of flowers, and leaves, intermixed or twisted together, wound with a ribbon, and hanging or depending in a natural curve. See
Illust. ofBucranium .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
ornament such as agarland or chain which hangs loosely from two tacked spots. - noun architecture A
bas-relief ,painting , or structuralmotif resembling such an ornament. - noun A raised
cable with light globes attached. - noun astronomy A cloud on
Jupiter that hangs out of its home belt or zone into an adjacent area forming a curved finger-like image or a complete loop back to its home belt or zone. - noun entomology Any of a series of
wrinkles on the backs of someticks . - verb To hang
ornaments , such asgarlands orchains , whichhang loosely from two tacked spots. - verb To make festoons.
- verb To decorate or bedeck abundantly.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a curtain of fabric draped and bound at intervals to form graceful curves
- verb decorate with strings of flowers
- noun an embellishment consisting of a decorative representation of a string of flowers suspended between two points; used on pottery or in architectural work
- noun flower chains suspended in curves between points as a decoration
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The garland, or festoon, which is carried through, and sustained, as before stated, by each of the four figures, is composed of every flower indigenous to this part of the land, and introduced emblematically to the time in which they severally bloom.
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No power on earth, he declared, would induce him to attempt to "festoon" a hole in the accepted fashion.
Betty Trevor George de Horne Vaizey 1887
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From this Koubba, the palm plantations extend southward and form a kind of festoon with the Keteya group, which is protected on the south-west by a hill of white sand.
The Caravan Route between Egypt and Syria Archduke of Austria Ludwig Salvator 1881
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---- The next ceremony was, the feast or banquet which was prepared in a kind of festoon, upon the side of the plain.
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(Come to think of it, anything that involves the word "festoon" is probably a bad idea.)
Black America Web 2010
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Also included is an impressive Indian multi-strand pearl and turquoise necklace, the front designed as a stylised peacock, which is estimated at $15,000-25,000, a cultured pearl and paste 'festoon' brooch which was a gift from the late Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
unknown title 2009
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Also included is an impressive Indian multi-strand pearl and turquoise necklace, the front designed as a stylised peacock, which is estimated at $15,000-25,000, a cultured pearl and paste 'festoon' brooch which was a gift from the late Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
unknown title 2009
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American flags made in the studio's upholstery department festoon storefronts and Spanish moss from the greenery department drips over trees.
Hollywood's TV Factory Amy Chozick 2011
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Glummer still was the plight of tiny homosexual Ben Mitchell, whose response to being caught kissing hooded squeeze Duncan was to festoon the Square with swirling wreaths of misspelled accusations "BIGGOT" and make Patrick's trilby spin with threats of the "watch it, mister!" genus.
World Of Lather 2011
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The story of Dave Johnson—president of the 100-year-old, fourth-generation family-owned business, Summitville Tiles, Inc. a ceramic tile and brick manufacturer whose products festoon both the roof of the White House and the floors of McDonald's restaurants around the world—is typical.
Ohio Shows the Way on Death Tax Repeal Bill Batchelder 2011
kaichi commented on the word festoon
Definition: (noun) 1 : a decorative chain or strip hanging between two points
2 : a carved, molded, or painted ornament representing a decorative chain
Also: festoonery.
January 15, 2007
john commented on the word festoon
“McDonald’s hasn’t silenced nutritional critics; some of its salads come festooned with fried chicken.�?
The New York Times, At McDonald’s, the Happiest Meal Is Hot Profits, by Andrew Martin, January 10, 2009
January 11, 2009
pikachu commented on the word festoon
The great wall of vegetation, an exuberant and entangled mass of trunks, branches, leaves, boughs, festoons, motionless in the moonlight, was like a rioting invasion of soundless life, a rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready to topple over the creek, to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence.
--Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
March 9, 2011
leirion commented on the word festoon
Perhaps best use of "festoon" I've seen:
April 22, 2014
qms commented on the word festoon
A feature of the well-run saloon
Was the bright and hygienic spittoon.
If absent the spit
That chewers emit
Would leave a mephitic festoon.
April 22, 2014