spangle

See also: Spangle

English
WOTD – 13 November 2021

Etymology
Gold spangles (sense 1) on a shoe.
Spangles (sense 2.1) are visible on the surface of this galvanized handrail.
A gold and a citron spangled Hamburg bantam chicken, so named because of the spangles (sense 3.2) on their plumage.
The spangle (sense 4) (Papilio protenor).

The noun is derived from Middle English spangel (“small piece of ornamental metal, spangle; small ornament”) [and other forms],[1] from spang (“small piece of ornamental metal, spangle; small ornament; type of bowl or cup”)[2] + -el (diminutive suffix).[3] Spang is derived from Middle Dutch spange, spaenge (“buckle, clasp; brooch; spangle”) (modern Dutch spang (“clasp; hook; metal hairband; metal pin”)),[4] from Middle Low German spangel (“small chain or clasp”),[1] from Proto-Germanic *spangō (“brooch; clasp”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- (“to twist; to weave”). The English word is analysable as spang +‎ -le (diminutive suffix).[5]

The verb is derived from the noun.[6]

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈspæŋɡ(ə)l/
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈspæŋɡəl/
  • (US, also) IPA(key): /ˈspeɪŋɡəl/
  • Rhymes: -æŋɡəl
  • Hyphenation: spang‧le

Noun

spangle (plural spangles)

  1. A small, flat piece of sparkling metallic or metal-like material with a hole which is sewn on to a garment, etc., for decoration; a sequin.
    Synonym: paillette
    • c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Thirde Booke] Chapter 18”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, →OCLC, page 462:
      The other Knight was all in milke white, his attiring els, all cutte in starres, which made of cloath of silver, and silver spangles, each way seemed to cast many aspects.
    • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “Of the Inhabitants of Lilliput; […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), pages 111–112:
      […] I had coſt his Majeſty above a million and a half of Sprugs, (their greateſt Gold Coin, about the bigneſs of a Spangle;) and upon the whole, that it would be adviſeable in the Emperor to take the firſt fair Occaſion of diſmiſſing me.
    • 1818 July 25, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 153:
      A tawdry scarf of yellow silk, trimmed with tinsel and spangles, which had seen as hard service, and boasted as honourable a transmission, was next flung over one shoulder, and fell across her person in the manner of a shoulder-belt or baldrick.
    • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “In which is Given a Faithful Portraiture of Two Distinguished Persons; […]”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 151:
      His wardrobe was extensive—very extensive—not strictly classical perhaps, nor quite new, nor did it contain any one garment made precisely after the fashion of any age or time, but every thing was more or less spangled; and what can be prettier than spangles?
    • 1905, Edith Wharton, chapter X, in The House of Mirth, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book II, page 462:
      "Miss Bart, if you can't sew those spangles on more regular I guess you'd better give the hat to Miss Kilroy." Lily looked down ruefully at her handiwork. The forewoman was right: the sewing on of the spangles was inexcusably bad. What made her so much more clumsy than usual?
    • 1922, United States Tariff Commission, “Schedule 14.—Sundries. [Paragraph 1403.]”, in Summary of Tariff Information 1921: Relative to the Bill H.R. 7456, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 1094:
      Act of 1913. Par. 333. Beads and spangles of all kinds, including imitation pearl beads, not threaded or strung, or strung loosely on thread for facility in transportation only, 35 per centum ad valorem; […] A spangle is a small plate or bar of shiny metal or other material used as an ornament or trimming on wearing apparel.
    • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter I, in The Unknown Ajax (An Ace Star Book; 84665), New York, N.Y.: Ace Publishing, →OCLC, page 6:
      And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.
    • 1998, Mary Gostelow, “English Blackwork”, in Blackwork (Dover Needlework Series), Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, →ISBN, page 25:
      Spangles, or sequins, often of sheets of silver-gilt cut into small roundels with central holes for retaining stitches, had been introduced to western Europe from Italy. […] For later blackwork purposes, spangles were held in place with black silk retaining stitches, or they could be held with silver-gilt thread worked in knots such as a conical 'French knot'.
    • 2017 June, Juliet Blackwell, chapter 12, in A Ghostly Light (A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery), New York, N.Y.: Berkley Prime Crime, Berkley, →ISBN, page 114:
      "Again, just to clarify, my current spangles will not suffice?" / "I don't particularly care what you wear—though overalls might not be the thing. But I always see a gala as a chance to bring out that evening gown you hardly ever have the occasion to use."
  2. Any small sparkling object.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 48, page 148:
      There they doe finde that godly aged Sire, / VVith ſnowy lockes adowne his ſhoulders ſhed, / As hoary froſt with ſpangles doth attire / The moſſy braunches of an Oke halfe ded.
    • 1648, Robert Herrick, “[Anacreontic and Bacchanalian.] The Apparition of His Mistress Calling Him to Elisium.”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC; republished as Henry G. Clarke, editor, Hesperides, or Works both Human and Divine, volume I, London: H. G. Clarke and Co., […], 1844, →OCLC, page 176:
      And all the shrubs, with sparkling spangles, shew / Like morning sun-shine, tinselling the dew.
      The spelling has been modernized.
    1. A shiny particle of a mineral.
      • 1624, Iohn Smith, “Of Such Things which are Naturally in Virginia, and How They Vse Them”, in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, book 2; reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, [...] (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, →OCLC, page 28:
        There wanted good Refiners; for thoſe that tooke vpon them to haue skill this way, tooke vp the waſhings from the mountaines, and ſome moskered ſhining ſtones and ſpangles which the waters brought downe, flattering themſelues in their owne vaine conceits to haue been ſuppoſed what they were not, by the meanes of that ore, if it proued as their arts and iudgements expected.
      • 1991, Frank Porter, “Sheet Galvanizing”, in Zinc Handbook: Properties, Processing, and Use in Design (Mechanical Engineering; 73), Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 259:
        The surface texture [of galvanized metal] can also be controlled and, in particular, the classical spangle finish can be eliminated. The spangle finish of galvanized strip is quite unsuitable for certain applications, most particularly for organic liquid paint coating; it is practically impossible to paint a galvanized sheet with normal spangle in such a way that the pattern of the spangles is not apparent through the coat of paint.
    2. (figuratively) A star.
      • 1645, Edmond Waller [i.e., Edmund Waller], “Of the Queen”, in Poems, &c. Written upon Several Occasions, and to Several Persons: […], 6th edition, London: […] H[enry] Herringman, and sold by Jacob Tonson, […], published 1694, →OCLC, page 118, lines 35–38:
        Thus in a Starry night fond children cry / For the rich ſpangles that adorn the Sky; / Which though they ſhine for ever fixed there, / With light and influence relieve us here.
      • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Third”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, page 39, lines 61–64:
        See round the Poles where keener ſpangles ſhine, / Where ſpices ſmoke beneath the burning Line, / (Earths wide extreams) her ſable flag diſplay'd; / And all the nations cover'd in her ſhade!
      • 1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume I (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 148:
        [N]ight closed with a blue and cloudless sky, in which the thousand spangles that deck the firmament received double brilliancy from some slight touch of frost, although the paler planet, their mistress, was but in her first quarter.
  3. (by extension)
    1. A point of light; also (rare), a glitter, a sparkle.
      • a. 1893, Alfred Tennyson, “Sea Fairies”, in The Complete Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, Chicago, Ill.: The Dominion Company, published 1897, →OCLC, page 31:
        Mariner, mariner, furl your sails, / For here are the blissful downs and dales, / And merrily, merrily carol the gales, / And the spangle dances in bight and bay, / And the rainbow forms and flies on the land / Over the islands free; […]
    2. A speckle or spot, especially on the body of an animal.
      • 1942 January, M[orley] A. Jull, “Ornamental Bantam Class”, in Standard Breeds and Varieties of Chickens. II. Ornamental and Game Classes (Farmers’ Bulletin; no. 1507), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture; U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 33:
        In the male [mille fleur booted bantam] the general plumage color is red with the tip of each feather ending in a V-shaped, white spangle which is separated from the red portion of the feather by a black bar. […] The wing bows are also red, tipped with white spangles.
      • 1954 March, “Ornamental Bantam Class”, in Ornamental and Game Breeds of Chickens (Farmers’ Bulletin; no. 2066), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture; U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 6:
        The Golden-Spangled Hamburg has an attractive pattern, the plumage over the body being golden bay, each feather ending with an elongated, greenish-black spangle. […] The spangles of the wing coverts should form two distinct, parallel bars across the wings.
      • 2012, David V. Alford, “Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Sawflies and Wasps)”, in Pests of Ornamental Trees, Shrubs and Flowers: A Color Handbook, 2nd edition, Waltham, Mass., San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, →ISBN, page 400, column 1:
        In summer, mated female wasps deposit large numbers of eggs in the tissue on the underside of expanded oak leaves, inducing the formation of characteristic spangle galls. […] Spangle galls often occur in vast numbers, and cause spotting of the foliage, visible from above. However, infested trees are seldom if ever harmed.
  4. Any of a number of swallowtail butterflies (genus Papilio); specifically Papilio protenor.
    • 1974 March 30, Toshikazu Horiuchi, “Where Have All the Butterflies Gone? An Essay”, in 愛知工業大学研究報告. A, 基礎教育系論文集 [Bulletin of Aichi Institute of Technology. Part A, Basic Education Dissertation Collection.]‎, number 9, Toyota, Aichi, Japan: Aichi Institute of Technology, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 October 2021, page 228, column 2:
      The female is unusually beautiful with grayish-brown wings hemmed by velvet black, while the male, resembling the black-winged Long-tail Spangle (Onaga-ageha) [Papilio macilentus], has unique vermillion marks on the body, and gives out a unique fragrance from which comes its Japanese name.
    • 2004, Torben B[jørn] Larsen, “Systematic Checklist [Papilionidae]”, in Butterflies of Bangladesh: An Annotated Checklist, Dhaka, Bangladesh: Bangladesh Country Office, International Union for Conservation of Nature, →ISBN, pages 25 and 26:
      [page 25] Papilio protenor euprotenor Fruhstorfer, 1908 / The Spangle was mentioned from Bangladesh by Collins & Morris (1985); it is quite likely in the Srimangal forests since it occurs in the Khasi Hills at low levels. […] [page 26] Papilio elephenor Doubleday, 1845 / The Yellow-Crested Spangle was collected once at Cachar. It is a very rare butterfly.
    • 2008, Martin J. Hodson, Margot R. Hodson, “Caring as Communities”, in Cherishing the Earth: How to Care for God’s Creation, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Monarch Books, Lion Hudson, →ISBN, photo 5 caption, page 128:
      Spangle butterfly (Papilio protenor) photographed in Tokyo, Japan.
    • 2016 May 26, Monsoon Jyoti Gogoi, Hillol Jyoti Singha, Panna Deb, “Butterfly (Lepidoptera) Diversity in Barail Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, India”, in Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies‎, volume 4, number 4, New Delhi: Society of Agricultural Research and Social Development, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 March 2020, page 550, column 2:
      Many species like Yellow-crested Spangle Papilio elephenor, Nevill's Windmill Atrophaneura nevilli were recorded from the area during earlier surveys, but we did not record these species till date.
    • 2016, Mamoru Watanabe, “Historical Perspective”, in Sperm Competition in Butterflies (Ecological Research Monographs), Tokyo, Heidelberg, Hesse: Springer Japan, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, figure 2.13 caption, page 23:
      A male of the spangle, Papilio protenor (black swallowtail butterfly), feeding on the flowers of the bushkiller, Cayratia japonica.

Derived terms

Translations
speckle or spot, especially on the body of an animal — see speckle

Verb

spangle (third-person singular simple present spangles, present participle spangling, simple past and past participle spangled)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (also figuratively) To fix spangles or sparkling objects to (something); to bespangle.
    2. (figuratively) To adorn or decorate (something).
      • 1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC; The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America (Force’s Collection of Historical Tracts; vol. III, no. 8), 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Daniel Henchman, […]; [Washington, D.C.: W. Q. Force], 1713 (1844 printing), →OCLC, page 55:
        It seems it is in fashion with you to sugar your papers with Carnation phrases, and spangle your speeches with new quodled words.
      • 1954 October 11, “Assault on the Summit: The Conquerors' Account”, in Life‎, volume 37, number 15, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 33:
        On the morning of July 31, the mountain rose spangled in the summer sun 2,300 feet above Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli. Strapping on three oxygen tanks, the two men faced toward K2's last fastness.
  2. (intransitive) To flash, glitter, or sparkle.
    Synonyms: coruscate, scintillate
    • 1665, John Bunyan, “ The Holy City; or, The New Jerusalem: […]”, in Henry Stebbing, editor, The Entire Works of John Bunyan, […], volume I, London: James S[prent] Virtue, […], published 1863, →OCLC, page 316, column 1:
      The gifts are differing, being diverse; their administrations are differing, and the operations of them also are differing, though all those things are from that one and the self-same Spirit, working in every one severally as he pleases. All these things will spangle in the New Jerusalem, and carry their full breadth and sway as in the days of old.

Conjugation
Conjugation of spangle
infinitive (to) spangle
present tense past tense
1st-person singular spangle spangled
2nd-person singular spangle, spanglest† spangled, spangledst†
3rd-person singular spangles, spangleth† spangled
plural spangle
subjunctive spangle spangled
imperative spangle —
participles spangling spangled

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

Translations
to adorn or decorate (something) — see adorn,‎ decorate
to flash, glitter, or sparkle — see glitter,‎ sparkle

References
  1. “spangel, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. “spang, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. “-el, suf.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. Compare “spang, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020.
  5. “spangle, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “spangle, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  6. “spangle, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2020; “spangle, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

Anagrams
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