Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Hanging: same as pendent (which is now the usual spelling).
  • noun A loose hanging part; something attached to and hanging loosely from an object of which it is an ornamental or useful part, as a bead, ball, knob, or ring of any material, hanging from a necklace, ear-ring, lamp, the edge of a garment, or a locket hanging from a brooch, or the like. See cut under badge.
  • noun Specifically— An ear-ring.
  • noun A name given to that part of the knightly belt of the fourteenth century which was allowed to hang after passing through the buckle and sometimes through an additional loop: it ended with the chape, which acted as a weight to keep it hanging perpendicularly.
  • noun The part of a watch by which It is suspended, consisting generally of a guard-ring and a pusher-pin.
  • noun An apparatus hanging from a roof or ceiling for giving light, generally branched and ornamented; a chandelier or gaselier.
  • noun In architecture, a hanging ornament used in the vaults and in timber roofs of late and debased medieval architecture, and also in some Oriental architecture.
  • noun A pendulum.
  • noun Nautical: A Short Seine piece of rope with a thimble or block at one end.
  • noun Something attached to or connected with another as an addition; an appendix.
  • noun Something of the same kind, as a companion picture, statue, group of statuary, poem, anecdote, etc.; a parallel.
  • noun The cylindrical stem on a watchcase to which the guard-ring is attached.
  • noun A corollary.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Something which hangs or depends; something suspended; a hanging appendage, especially one of an ornamental character, as to a chandelier or an eardrop; also, an appendix or addition, as to a book.
  • noun An ornamental object or piece of jewelry with a hook so that it can be hung from a chain around the neck.
  • noun (Arch.) A hanging ornament on roofs, ceilings, etc., much used in the later styles of Gothic architecture, where it is of stone, and an important part of the construction. There are imitations in plaster and wood, which are mere decorative features.
  • noun (Fine Arts) One of a pair; a counterpart.
  • noun obsolete A pendulum.
  • noun U.S. The stem and ring of a watch, by which it is suspended.
  • noun (Arch.) a part of the framing of an open timber roof; a post set close against the wall, and resting upon a corbel or other solid support, and supporting the ends of a collar beam or any part of the roof.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun branched lighting fixture; often ornate; hangs from the ceiling
  • adjective held from above
  • noun an adornment that hangs from a piece of jewelry (necklace or earring)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman pendaunt, Middle French pendant, noun use of adjective.

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Examples

Comments

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  • "anything attached to another thing of the same kind, an appendix: a companion picture, poem, etc." (from the Chambers 20th Century Dictionary, New Edition, 1983)

    As in "In a pendant essay called "The Procession of Flowers," Higginson followed the seasons of New England from the first flowering arbutus among the lingering snows of April to the late-blooming fall blossoms heralding the coming of winter."

    -- A Summer of Hummingbirds by Christopher Benfey, p 18

    October 16, 2008

  • Ah. Like the knob on a brioche. That's a kind of pendant.

    October 16, 2008

  • The first thing that came to mind when I read kap's first definition was fetus, then the next thing I thought of was conjoined twins. I know...

    October 16, 2008