aigrette

See also: aigretté

English

Marie-Antoinette with aigrette

Alternative forms

• aigret

Etymology

Borrowed from French aigrette (“egret”). Doublet of egret.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeɪ.ɡɹɪt/

Noun

aigrette (plural aigrettes)

1. A feather or plume, or feather-shaped item, used as an adornment or ornament.
   • 1756, George Colman, The Connoisseur‎^[1], volume 2, London: R. Baldwin, page 706:

     This bauble, said he, shewing me an elegant sprig of diamonds, is an aigret, sent in last week by a lady of quality, who has ever since kept home with her head muffled up in a double clout for a pretended fit of the tooth-ache.

   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, III.77:

     His turban, furled in many a graceful fold, / An emerald aigrette, with Haidée's hair in't, / Surmounted as its clasp […]

   • 1843, William H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico‎^[2], New York: Harper & Brothers, Volume 1, Book 1, Chapter 2, p. 33:

     On a stool, in front [of the throne], was placed a human skull, crowned with an immense emerald, of a pyramidal form, and surmounted by an aigrette of brilliant plumes and precious stones.

   • 1888, Victor Hugo, translated by Isabel Florence Hapgood, Notre-Dame de Paris‎^[3], New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, Volume 1, Book 3, Chapter 2, p. 149:

     At intervals you behold the passage of sounds of all forms which come from the triple peal of Saint-Germain des Prés. Then, again, from time to time, this mass of sublime noises opens and gives passage to the beats of the Ave Maria, which bursts forth and sparkles like an aigrette of stars.

   • 1918, Willa Cather, My Ántonia‎^[4], Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Book 2, Chapter 11, p. 241:

     She was formal in manner, and made calls in rustling, steel-gray brocades and a tall bonnet with bristling aigrettes.

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 181:

     Young women attired often in nothing more than ostrich-feather aigrettes dyed in colors of doubtful taste ran nubilely up and down the marble staircases, chased by young men in razor-toed ball shoes of patent-leather.

2. (ornithology) The lesser white heron.

   Synonym: egret

   • 1912, Zane Grey, chapter 3, in Ken Ward in the Jungle‎^[5], New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 31:

     Birds of many kinds skimmed the weedy flats. George pointed out a flock of aigrets, the beautiful wild fowl with the priceless plumes.

3. The feathery crown of some seeds (such as the dandelion).

References

• OED 2nd edition 1989

Further reading

• aigrette on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From Old Occitan aigreta, diminutive of aigron (“heron”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ.ɡʁɛt/, /e.ɡʁɛt/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

aigrette f (plural aigrettes)

1. egret (Any of various wading birds of the genera Egretta or Ardea)
2. (botany) pappus, thistledown

   Synonym: pappus

3. (of certain birds) crest (plumage)
4. feather (atop a hat)

Descendants

• → English: aigrette, aigret

Gallery

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Further reading

• aigrette on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr
• “aigrette”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.