Definitions

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

  • noun An expression of approval; praise.
  • noun A special acknowledgment; an award.
  • noun A ceremonial embrace, as of greeting or salutation.
  • noun Ceremonial bestowal of knighthood.
  • transitive verb To praise or honor.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A ceremony used in conferring knighthood, anciently consisting in an embrace, afterward in giving the candidate a blow upon the shoulder with the flat of a sword, the latter being the present method; hence, the blow itself.
  • noun In music, a brace or couplet connecting several staves. In architecture, an ornament composed of two ogee curves meeting in the middle, each concave toward its outer extremity and convex toward the point at which it meets the other.
  • noun In Roman and early monastic MSS., the curved stroke made by the copyist around a final word written below the line to which it belonged, in order to avoid carrying it on to the next.

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

  • noun A ceremony formerly used in conferring knighthood, consisting of an embrace, and a slight blow on the shoulders with the flat blade of a sword.
  • noun (Mus.) A brace used to join two or more staves.

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

  • noun An expression of approval; praise.
  • noun A special acknowledgment; an award.
  • noun An embrace of greeting or salutation.
  • noun historical A salutation marking the conferring of knighthood, consisting of an embrace or a kiss, and a slight blow on the shoulders with the flat of a sword.
  • noun music A brace used to join two or more staves.
  • noun US, military Written Presidential certificate recognizing service by personnel who died or were wounded in action between 1917 and 1918, or who died in service between 1941 and 1947, or died of wounds received in Korea between June 27, 1950 and July 27, 1954. Service of civilians who died overseas or as a result of injury or disease contracted while serving in a civilian capacity with the United States Armed Forces during the dates and/or in areas prescribed is in like manner recognized.
  • verb transitive To embrace or kiss in salutation.
  • verb transitive, historical To confer a knighthood on.

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

  • noun a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction

Etymologies

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

[French, an embrace, accolade, from accoler, to embrace, from Old French acoler, from Vulgar Latin *accollāre : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin collum, neck; see kwel- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • In all seven divisions where he claimed some title accolade, he can only be caught arguably cherry picking once in the seven.

    BoxingScene.com 2010

  • In all seven divisions where he claimed some title accolade, he can only be caught arguably cherry picking once in the seven.

    BoxingScene.com 2009

  • "What makes this a special honor or accolade is it is a genre picture, and typically they are celebrated more by audiences than they are by critics," he said.

    Jeff Bridges Responds To His Golden Globe Nomination: ‘I Dig Being Dug, Man’ » MTV Movies Blog 2009

  • For example, Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell has broken new ground in becoming the first party leader to join the hip social networking website Facebook, racking up well over a thousand ‘friends’, and earning an accolade from the Daily Mirror as the politician with the best online presence.

    Archive 2007-05-01 Stephen Tall 2007

  • For example, Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell has broken new ground in becoming the first party leader to join the hip social networking website Facebook, racking up well over a thousand ‘friends’, and earning an accolade from the Daily Mirror as the politician with the best online presence.

    Tuned in and turned on? Stephen Tall 2007

  • Heil the Prince of Homburg” (l. The accolade is ordinary, and certainly respectful, but it remains incomplete until the accompanying officers add: “Heil, heil, heil!”

    Patriot Acts: The Political Language of Henrich von Kleist 2006

  • Speaking at the ceremony, Lasseter called the accolade "a tremendous honour", one he shares with his "best friends and brothers" in filmmaking, his fellow directors at the studio.

    Archive 2009-09-01 Mike 2009

  • Speaking at the ceremony, Lasseter called the accolade "a tremendous honour", one he shares with his "best friends and brothers" in filmmaking, his fellow directors at the studio.

    Pixarians presented with Venice award Mike 2009

  • The accolade was a rarity in the world, and even in the Hermitage a very great rarity among so many top-class treasures.

    The Dragon’s Trail Joanna Pitman 2006

  • The accolade was a rarity in the world, and even in the Hermitage a very great rarity among so many top-class treasures.

    The Dragon’s Trail Joanna Pitman 2006

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