Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A piece of armor protecting the throat.
  • noun An ornamental collar.
  • noun The scarflike part of a wimple covering the neck and shoulders.
  • noun A band or patch of distinctive color on the throat of an animal, especially an area of brightly colored feathers on the throat of a bird.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In archaeology, an object of stone or shell, flat, or convex on one side and concave on the other, and sometimes provided with perforations.
  • noun A piece of armor protecting the throat and sometimes the upper part of the breast.
  • noun A variety of wimple in use in the fourteenth century. It was worn very tight and close.
  • noun An ornamental neck-band having a considerable breadth, especially in front.
  • noun In ornithology, a throat-patch in any way distinguished by the color or texture of the feathers. Also gorgelet.
  • noun In surgery, a grooved instrument used in operations for anal fistula and in lithotomy. It serves as a guide, and in some instances is furnished with a blade for cutting. Also gorgeret.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A piece of armor, whether of chain mail or of plate, defending the throat and upper part of the breast, and forming a part of the double breastplate of the 14th century.
  • noun A piece of plate armor covering the same parts and worn over the buff coat in the 17th century, and without other steel armor.
  • noun A small ornamental plate, usually crescent-shaped, and of gilded copper, formerly hung around the neck of officers in full uniform in some modern armies.
  • noun obsolete A ruff worn by women.
  • noun A cutting instrument used in lithotomy.
  • noun A grooved instrunent used in performing various operations; -- called also blunt gorget.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A crescent-shaped, colored patch on the neck of a bird or mammal.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a humming bird of the genus Trochilus. See Rubythroat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun historical A piece of armour for the throat.
  • noun historical A type of women's clothing covering the neck and breast; a wimple.
  • noun An ornament for the neck; a necklace, ornamental collar, torque etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun armor plate that protects the neck

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French gorgete, diminutive of gorge, throat; see gorge.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French gorgete, from gorge ("throat").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word gorget.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Excuse me, my dear. I am nettled. They have fearfully rumpled my gorget.

    Anna Howe to Clarissa Harlowe, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

    December 21, 2007

  • Headwear? Really? I've only ever seen this word used in reference to a piece of armor, an officer's symbol of rank, etc. Like this, which is descended from this.

    Anyway, in that sense, there's a usage note on Pyrrhic dance.

    March 18, 2008

  • It's also part of a wimple--the part covering the neck and shoulders. But you're right; it's not a hat per se. Think I'll take it off my list....

    March 19, 2008

  • Ohhh... that makes sense! No, no, don't take it off your list! It's actually headwear if it's part of a wimple. I just had never heard of that before.

    March 19, 2008

  • It's also used to describe the bright colored spots under the "chins" of some hummingbirds, by the way. :-)

    March 20, 2008

  • I came across this word here. Forgive me.

    February 19, 2009