gorget Meaning, Definition & Usage

Gor"get noun

Etymology

OF. gorgete, dim. of gorge throat. See Gorge, n.

Definitions

1. 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.
2. A piece of plate armor covering the same parts and worn over the buff coat in the 17th century, and without other steel armor.

   Unfix the gorget's iron clasp. Sir W. Scott.

3. 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.
4. A ruff worn by women. Obs.
5. (Surg.) (a) A cutting instrument used in lithotomy. (b) A grooved instrunent used in performing various operations; -- called also blunt gorget. Dunglison.
6. (Zoöl.) A crescent-shaped, colored patch on the neck of a bird or mammal.