Forms: (5 escochon, 6 escuchon), 7, 9 escocheon, (7 eschoch-, eschucheon, -ion, escochion, escotch-, escucheon, -tchion, -tcheer), 8 eschutcheon, 6– escutcheon. See also SCUTCHEON. [a. ONF. escuchon (central OF. escusson, mod. écusson):—late L. type *scūtiōn-em, f. scūtum shield.]
Johnson 1755 has only the form eschutcheon.
1. Her. The shield or shield-shaped surface on which a coat of arms is depicted; also in wider sense, the shield with the armorial bearings; a sculptured or painted representation of this.
1480. Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV. (1830), 131. Escochons of papir in colours of the armes of Lorde George Ver.
1594. Mirr. Policie (1599), M iiij b. And from that time the vse of Escuchons and Armory vvas found out, as a vvitnesse of their Nobility and vertue.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 405. Their Eschocheon Gules with sixe escallops argent.
1679. Plot, Staffordsh. (1686), Pref. a. The figures on the right hand each Escocheon, shewing what Armes belong to the Houses.
1774. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, III. (R.). The addition of the escutcheon of Edward the Confessor … was a sufficient foundation for an impeachment of high treason.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xli. The carved stone escutcheon of the ancient family … was hung diagonally beneath the helmet and crest.
1846. Prescott, Ferd. & Is., I. vi. 277. They were prohibited from quartering the royal arms on their escutcheons.
1885. Miss Braddon, Wyllard’s Weird, ii. Gray granite pillars, each crowned with the escutcheon of the Heathcotes.
b. fig.; esp. in phrases like a blot on an escutcheon = a stain on a person’s reputation.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, Ded. (e) 2 b. I confess the Banishment of Ovid was a Blot in his Escutcheon.
1848. R. W. Hamilton, Disq. Sabbath, v. 180. We are not ashamed of our [Puritan] fathers … The escocheon of their virtues is our proudest heraldry.
1862. ‘Shirley’ (J. Skelton), Nugæ Crit., x. 444. The people of Edinburgh were eager to remove an unseemly stain from the escutcheon of their city.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. vii. 45. A dark blot on the escutcheon of the House of Godwine.
c. Escutcheon of pretence: the small escutcheon bearing the arms of an heiress placed in the center of her husband’s shield. Cf. INESCUTCHEON.
1677. Lond. Gaz., No. 1208/4. Upon an Escutcheer of Pretence, a Chevern between three Birds.
1766–87. Porny, Her., 123.
1823. Rutter, Fonthill, p. xxiv. Mervyn quartering Squire, and on an escutcheon of pretence, Green [etc.].
† 2. A hatchment. (More fully funera! escutcheon.) Obs.
a. 1672. Wood, Life (1848), 40. Escocheons which he had got by burying several persons of quality.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, I. 4/1. Every Gentleman … was interr’d with Funeral Escochions.
1722. De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 347. Mrs. Veal was certainly dead, and her escutcheons were making.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 73, ¶ 7. At last the eldest fell ill … I dreamed every night of escutcheons and white gloves.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch-bk., II. 183. Several ancient monuments … over some of which hang funeral escutcheons.
3. Anything shaped like, or resembling, an escutcheon: a. gen. (see quot.)
1602. Plat, Delightes for Ladies, xviii. Of … Marchpane paste … our comfit makers … make … Armes, escocheons, beasts, birds, & other fancies.
b. Arch. A shield-shaped ornament, chiefly in Gothic buildings, carved on the bosses of ceilings, at the ends of weather-moldings, etc.
1875. Parker, Gloss. Goth. Archit.
c. A key-hole plate, a name plate, etc.
1655. Marq. Worcester, Cent. Inv., § 72. An Escocheon to be placed before any of these locks.
1879. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Escutcheon … a plate for protecting the keyhole of a door; or one to which the handle of a door is attached.
d. Horticulture. A shield-shaped portion of a branch, containing a bud, cut for use as a graft.
1658. Evelyn, Fr. Gard. (1675), 61. Cut your escutcheon long enough … that it may derive nourishment.
e. Naut. (see quot.)
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Escutcheon. The compartment in the middle of the ship’s stern, where her name is written.
f. Zool. (see quots.)
1854. Woodward, Mollusca, II. 947. The lunule … is an oval space in front of the beaks [of bivalves]…. When a similar impression exists behind the beaks, it is termed the escutcheon. Ibid. (1856), 305. Meroe … Shell oval, compressed … ligament in a deep escutcheon.
4. Comb. escutcheon grafting (see 3 d).
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Grafting, They will thrive … well upon the Quince tree by Escutcheon grafting.
Hence Escutcheoned ppl. a., furnished or decorated with escutcheons.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., II. 356. What … is this escutcheon’d world, Which hangs out Death in one eternal night?
1822. Byron, Werner, V. i. Our banner’d and escutcheon’d gallery.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr. (1858), 298. Doggeries never so escutcheoned … must take the fate of such.
