[f. SPANGLE sb.1 Cf. G. spängeln, † spengeln.]
1. trans. To decorate (a garment or the like) with spangles.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 16. Russet satyn, spangled with spangels of fine gold.
1572. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 180. To John Bettes and his wyfe for one daye and one nighte spangling of the headpeeces.
1611. Cotgr., Pailleter, to spangle, to bespangle, to trimme, or decke, with spangles.
1784. Ann. Reg., Chron., 183/2. They were all five in Spanish dresses … of white crape spangled with gold.
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmag. (1824), 355. The young ladies are industriously spangling muslins.
1874. H. H. Cole, Catal. Ind. Art S. Kens. Mus., 269. The muslin … has a very gay appearance, as if spangled.
1904. Mrs. Alec Tweedie, Behind Footlights, xi. 210. Women … trimming headgear, others spangling ribbon.
fig. 1607. Shaks., Timon, III. vi. 101. This is Timons last, Who stucke and spangled with your Flatteries, Washes it off.
b. To adorn as with spangles; to cause to glitter as if so decorated. Const. with.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iv. 79. He th’ Azure Tester trimm’d with golden marks, And richly spangled with bright glistring-sparks.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Poems (1656), 63. To spread the Azure Canopy of Heaven, And Spangle it all with Sparkes of burning Gold.
1814. Scott, Lord of Isles, I. xxiii. A hundred torches play’d, Spangling the wave with lights.
1839. Bailey, Festus, 253. The finger of that hand Which spangled o’er infinity with suns.
1883. Symonds, Ital. Byways, 1. There had been a hard frost, spangling the meadows with rime-crystals.
fig. 1647. N. Ward, Simple Cobler (1843), 89. It is in fashion with you to spangle your speeches with new quodled words.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), VIII. 327. They spangle over their productions with metaphors.
2. Of things: To dot or cover (something) after the manner of spangles.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. v. 31. What stars do spangle heauen with such beautie?
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 384. With thousand thousand Starres, that then appeer’d Spangling the Hemisphere.
1795. Coleridge, To Author of Poems, 36. With stars, unseen before, spangling her robe of night!
1831. Capt. Trelawny, Adv. Younger Son, cxvii. The Sunda islands, which spangle the eastern ocean.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 4. 34. Innumerable plates of mica spangled the fine sand.
3. In passive: To present an appearance as if decorated with spangles; to be dotted or spotted with something suggestive of spangles.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 130. Four faces each Had…; all thir shape Spangl’d with eyes.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, II. 136. This lawn is … in the season spangled with autumnal colchicum.
1775. Sheridan, The Duenna, II. i. Her skin … being spangled here and there with a golden freckle.
1840. Thackeray, George Cruikshank (1869), 305. The pew … wadded, and stuffed, and spangled over with brass nails.
1849. Kingsley, Misc. (1859), II. 299. These bright grey granite rocks, spangled with black glittering mica and golden lichens.
1874. Symonds, Sk. Italy & Greece (1898), I. 13. The meadows, spangled with yellow flowers.
b. In fig. applications.
1589. Nashe, Martin Marprelate, Wks. (Grosart), I. 95. That worke shall come out of the Presse like a bride from her chamber, spangled and trapt.
1828. Duppa, Trav. Italy, etc. 84. Rich and varied scenery, spangled at once with the comforts and refinements of life.
1893. McCarthy, Dictator, I. 79. Long letters spangled with stirring allusions to the Empire.
c. To be dotted or scattered about, like spangles.
1740. Richardson, Pamela, xliv. (1824), I. 368. The villages that lie spangled about this vast circumference.
4. intr. To glitter or sparkle with, or in the manner of, spangles.
1639. J. Mayne, City Match, To Rdr. Masquers … spangle, & glitter for the time, but tis through tinsell.
1665. Bunyan, Holy Citie, 177. All these things will spangle in the New Jerusalem.
a. 1770. Chatterton, Bristowe Tragedy, lxvii. Tassils spanglynge ynne the sunne, Muche glorious to beholde.
1854. Fraser’s Mag., L. 47. A contrast to all the other objects which spangle in the starry vault.
1857. S. Wilberforce, Sp. Missions (1874), 315. Just as … you see the sparks flashing and spangling.
