sb. Forms: 4–7 loseng(e, 5–6 losang(e, losing(e, 5 losyngye, (losynge, lesyng, lozingge), 5–7 lozeng, 6–7 lossenge, loosing, 6–8 lozange, (8 lozinge), 7– lozenge. [a. OF. losenge, losange (mod.F. losange) = Sp. losanje, Catal. llosange, It. lozanga; perh. a derivative of the word which appears as Prov. lausa, Sp. losa, Catal. llosa, Pg. lousa, slab, tombstone, ? OF. lauze roofing slate.
It has been suggested that Prov. lausa:—late L. *lapidea (f. lapid-, lapis stone) has been adopted into the other Rom. langs.; the presumed derivative losenge first occurs in Fr. (13th c.).]
1. A plane rectilineal figure, having four equal sides and two acute and two obtuse angles; a rhomb, ‘diamond.’ In Heraldry, such a figure used as a bearing, less elongated than the FUSIL, and placed with its longer axis vertical. † In lozenge = LOZENGY. Grand lozenge, † lozenge in point: a lozenge the angles of which touch the sides of the shield. Lozenges in cross: four or more lozenges disposed so as to form a cross.
Guillim’s definition (quot. 1610) would require that the acute angles should be of 60°; but the rule is not strictly followed by heraldic draughtsmen.
[a. 1327. in Parker, Gloss. Her., s.v., Sire Gerard de Braybrok, de argent a vij lozenges de goules.]
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 893. A [robe] with losenges [F. losenges] and scochouns,… wrought ful wel. Ibid. (c. 1384), H. Fame, III. 227. Somme crouned were as kinges, With crounes wroght ful of losenges.
1452. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), I. 282. The Bemes shalbe .xij. inche imbowed with lozinggys.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Her., F iv b. Off losyngys how and what maner of wyse they be made.
1519. Horman, Vulg., 242. Paper or lyn clothe straked a crosse with losynges make fenestrals in stede of glasen wyndowes.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 802/2. The walles … coloured white & greene losengis, and in euerie losing either a rose or a pomegranat.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, IV. xix. (1660), 354. A Losenge differeth from a Fusill in that the space between its two collaterall or middle Angles equals the length of any of the four Geometricall lines whereof it is composed.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Gard. Cyrus, iii. 54. Their mutual intersections make three Lozenges at the bottom of every Cell.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, I. 95/1. He beareth Or, a Losenge in point, (or extending to all sides of the Escochion) Gules.
a. 1695. Wood, Oxford (O.H.S.), III. 129. Over his head are his armes engraven…. Over hers in lozenge, parted per fess, a lozenge counterchanged [etc.].
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess Mar, 10 March. Her shift [was] fastened at the bottom with a great diamond, shaped like a lozenge.
1818–20. E. Thompson, Cullen’s Nosolog. Method. (ed. 3), 323. Scales have at first the figure and extent of the cuticular lozenges.
1855. Browning, Cleon, 84. See, in the chequered pavement opposite, Suppose the artist made … a lozenge, then a trapezoid.
1870. F. R. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 73. The font is panelled in lozenges.
b. A lozenge-shaped shield upon which the arms of a spinster or widow are emblazoned.
[1696. Phillips (ed. 5), Lozenge.… This figure is particularly us’d in Heraldry, for the Bearings of Women not under Covert Baron.]
a. 1797. H. Walpole, Mem. Geo. III., III. vii. 199. The royal arms in a widow’s lozenge were pictured over the bed.
1835. Marryat, Olla Podr., xxi. Nine out of ten have the widow’s lozenge.
1868. Cussans, Her. (1893), 42, note. The custom of emblazoning the arms of ladies upon lozenges did not generally obtain in England until the sixteenth century.
c. Math. = RHOMBUS. Now only in spherical lozenge: see quot.
1551. Recorde, Pathw. Knowl., I. Defin., The thyrd kind is called losenges or diamondes whose sides bee all equall, but it hath neuer a square corner.
1889. J. Casey, Spherical Trigon., 18. If the four sides of a spherical quadrilateral be equal, the diagonals are perpendicular to each other, and they bisect its angles. Such a figure is called a SPHERICAL LOZENGE.
d. One of the lozenge-shaped facets of a precious stone when cut (see quots.).
1750. Jeffries, Treat. Diamonds & Pearls (1751), Explan. Techn. Terms, Lozenges are common to Brilliants and Roses. In Brilliants they are formed by the meeting of the skill and star facets on the bezil: In Roses, by the meeting of the facets in the horizontal ribs of the crown.
1883. A. H. Church, Precious Stones, 20. The old brilliant-cut … requires … 58 facets thus arranged:… 4 Quoins or lozenges [etc.].
e. Arch. Short for lozenge moulding.
1841. Bloxam, Goth. Archit., 69. What were the mouldings principally used in the decoration of Norman churches?… The cable moulding. The double cone…. The lozenge [etc.].
1850. Parker, Gloss. Archit., II. 47. Mouldings and Ornaments…. Star…. Lozenge…. Enriched Lozenge.
† 2. Cookery. a. A lozenge-shaped cake. b. A lozenge-shaped ornament used to garnish a dish.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 44. Lesynges de chare…. And þan kytte þe cakys þorw with an knyf in maner of lesyngys.
c. 1440. Douce MS. 55, lf. 38 b. Cutt hem in the maner of losenges and make feyre batur … & close the sydes of the losynges ther with.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 599. Viand royall plantyd losynges of golde.
3. A small cake or tablet, originally diamond-shaped, of medicated or flavored sugar, etc., to be held and dissolved in the mouth. The name is also used, e.g., in meat lozenge, for a tablet of a substance (indicated by the prefixed word) in a concentrated form.
1530. Palsgr., 241/1. Losange of spyce, losange.
1547. Boorde, Brev. Health, II. xvii. 8. Dregges and losanges made to breake wynde.
1591. Treas. Hid. Secrets, lvii. C 7. Lay on it your gold leafe,… cut your Losings [1627 Loosings] Diamond fashion, and so keep them.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 583. The Liver of a Wolf being made in the form of a dry Electuary and given as a Lozeng.
c. 1623. Lodge, Poor Man’s Talent (1881), 26. It shall not bee amiss to take a loosing of Diaphisopi or Diaireas Salomonis.
1629. Massinger, Picture, IV. ii. Eate presently These lozenges, of forty crownes an ounce.
1721. N. Hodges, Hist. Acc. Plague Lond., 221. I … kept in my mouth some Lozenges all the while I was examining them.
1795. Burke, Regic. Peace, iv. Wks. IX. 56. Boxes of epigrammatick lozenges.
a. 1845. Hood, To J. Hume, v. Talk till hoarse; Have lozenges—mind Dawson’s—in your pocket.
1898. Cycling, 27. Meat lozenges are far preferable.
4. One of the lozenge-shaped panes of glass in a casement.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Lozenge,… also a quarry of a glass window.
1882. in Ogilvie, and in other recent Dicts.
5. Manege. (See quot.)
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 341/2. Lozenge, the slang term for a circular piece of leather with a hole in the centre to fit round the mouthpiece of the bit.
6. attrib. or adj. a. Lozenge-shaped, lozenge-like.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Gard. Cyrus, iii. 47. The … Lozenge seeds of the noble flower of the Sunne.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 93/1. A Lozenge leaf, or double pointed leaf, or pointed at both ends.
c. 1790. Imison, Sch. Art, II. 44. Gravers are of two sorts, square and lozenge.
1862. Rickman, Goth. Archit., 382. The lozenge interval is formed by some of the ribs of the fan running through it.
b. Of or composed of lozenges; ornamented with lozenges. Of strokes: Crossed so as to form lozenge-shaped interstices.
1658. Sir T. Browne (title), The Garden of Cyrus or the Quincuncial Lozenge, or Net-work Plantations of the Ancients … Considered.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, I. 33/2. The Bends … wrought upon with Fusil or Lozenge work, which consisteth of two colours.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), VI. 671/2. The cross strokes ought to be very lozenge.
1812–6. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 156. The pier … became, in its plan, lozenge, and formed the decorated pier.
1823. Rutter, Fonthill, 36. Their openings are filled with bronze lozenge lattice.
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., I. 481. I … stepped out on the narrow terrace … And paced its lozenge-brickwork.
1870. F. R. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 68. The arches … rich with billet and lozenge ornament.
18[?]. Archit. Publ. Soc. Dict., Lozenge Molding or Lozenge Fret, an ornament used in Norman Architecture presenting the appearance of diagonal ribs inclosing diamond-shaped panels.
7. Comb. a. General comb.: simple attrib., as lozenge-machine; lozenge-like adj.; parasynthetic, as lozenge-figured, -shaped adjs.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Gard. Cyrus, iii. 47. Wherein [sc. the Sunflower] in *Lozenge figured boxes nature shuts up the seeds.
1551. Recorde, Pathw. Knowl., I. Defin., Ther corners are like the corners of a losing, and therfore ar they named *losengelike.
1859. R. F. Burton, Centr. Afr., in Jrnl. Geog. Soc., XXIX. 314–5. The depth of the temporal fossæ,… producing, with the peaked and weakly retreating chin and high crown, a lozenge-like aspect.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Lozenge-machine, a machine for rolling out and cutting lozenges.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Three Ages, ii. 72. The summer flowers in the *lozenge-shaped parterres.
1860. Reade, Cloister & H. (1861), I. 70. The panes were very small and lozenge-shaped.
b. Special comb.: lozenge-base, the material used as a ‘base’ in the manufacture of lozenges; lozenge-coach (nonce-use), a coach with the owner’s coat of arms emblazoned on a lozenge (see 1 b), a dowager’s or widow’s coach; lozenge lion, a Scotch gold coin called a ‘lion,’ of the reign of Jas. I. (1406–37), having on the obverse the arms of Scotland in a lozenge shield.
1898. Rev. Brit. Pharm., 16. Trochiscus Sulphuris…. It is not made with one of the *lozenge-bases.
1746. H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 21 Aug. I am retired hither like an old summer dowager; only that I have no toad-eater to take the air with me in the back part of my *lozenge-coach.
1890. Service, Notandums, ix. 67. There were … Gold Pennies and Mailles, *Lozenge Lions [etc.].
