Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Archaic A jeweled necklace, collar, or headband.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Anecklace or collar of jewels.
- n. A circlet of gold and jewels worn as an ornament for the hair.
Wiktionary
- n. archaic A richly decorative collar.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A jeweled chain, necklace, or collar.
Etymologies
- From carcan + -et. (Wiktionary)
- From Old French carcan, collar, perhaps from Medieval Latin carcannum, perhaps of Germanic origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A-drooping.] [Footnote 6: A carcanet is a necklace, diminutive from old French”
““He may be right,” said Sir Archibald, “for here is a slip of parchment, commending the bearer of this carcanet to the Duke, desiring him to accept it as a true token from one well known to him, and to give the bearer full credence in all that be should say on the part of there by whom he is sent.””
“Lo you! let me have a blue robe, and — search for the ruby carcanet, which was part of the”
“Now, though I am never a hoarder of my pay, because it doth ill to bear a charge about one in these perilous times, yet I always have (and I would advise you to follow my example) some odd gold chain, or bracelet, or carcanet, that serves for the ornament of my person, and can at need spare”
“His high-crowned grey hat lay on the floor, covered with dust, but encircled by a carcanet of large balas rubies; and he wore a blue velvet nightcap, in the front of which was placed the plume of a heron, which had been struck down by a favourite hawk in some critical moment of the flight, in remembrance of which the king wore this highly honoured feather.”
“Rowena opened the small silver-chased casket, and perceived a carcanet, or neck lace, with ear-jewels, of diamonds, which were obviously of immense value.”
“Each one wore an iron carcanet, and the crowd was never weary of coming to gaze at them.”
“There flying Elwing came to him, and flame was in the darkness lit; more bright than light of diamond the fire upon her carcanet.”
“The tall young Queen was in crimson satin with cunningly-wrought silver embroideries, trimmed with tufted silver fringe, her stomacher stiff with silver bullion studded with gold rosettes and Roman pearls, her bodice cut low to display her splendid neck, decked by a carcanet of pearls and rubies, and surmounted by a fan-like cuff of guipure, high behind and sloping towards the bust.”
“On her white bosom hung a priceless carcanet of limpid diamonds, and through the heavy tresses of her bronze-coloured hair was coiled a string of lustrous pearls.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘carcanet’.
-
Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
-
EN - archaic words
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 328 more...
-
phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
caballine, cabas, cable, caboched, cabochon, caboose, cabotage, cabré, cabrie, cabriole, cabriolet, cacaesthesia and 1298 more...
-
Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
-
swishcheese and quantum leapfogs
wordie/wordnik is a new, unique (for the time being) dictionary (for lack of a more concise term). Part of its magic is its swift swishness (of a long basketball shot), neat nimbleness and flashy g...
swishcheese, leapfog, gallimousery, gloss-floss, arenicolite, through the period, stound-through, stound-bye, unmasked media, find-tooth-comb, abuzzword, new winnew and 84 more...
-
Tolkien's archaisms
sigaldry, moot, kine, fey, eyot, ghylls, gangrel, glede, ilexes, laved, niggard, league and 44 more...
-
Desserts of Random Palavery
Another of my Random Palavery lists, still an eclectic listing of terms that catch my eye and ear. It can't be helped. I am, (as a former partner phrased it) a word-bird.
chablis, ervy, keek, armiger, argand lamp, arblast, milch-cow, cow-calf units, durrus, tom noddy, low-bell, cargo cult and 139 more...
-
VanishedOne's Words
facipulator, fetiphobia, gules, boustrophedon, reverse boustroph..., unreal, ensiform, xiphoid, romhack, heritage, floccinaucinihili..., johnian and 1004 more...
-
Fit to Be Tied
Ties and other neckwear.
tie, necktie, cravat, ascot, dickey, scarf, bowtie, bolo tie, string tie, steenkirk, keffiyeh, stock and 36 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for carcanet.
shevek ...
There flying Elwing came to him,
and flame was in the darkness lit;
more bright than light of diamond
the fire upon her carcanet.
...
from The Ballad of Eärendil by J.R.R. Tolkien, from Fellowship of the Ring. Jun 30, 2008