Gorget \Gor"get\, n. [OF. gorgete, dim. of gorge throat. See
Gorge, n.]
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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
Unfix the gorget's iron clasp. --Sir W.
Scott.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
4. A ruff worn by women. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
5. (Surg.)
(a) A cutting instrument used in lithotomy.
(b) A grooved instrunent used in performing various
operations; -- called also blunt gorget.
--Dunglison.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Zool.) A crescent-shaped, colored patch on the neck of a
bird or mammal.
[1913 Webster]
Gorget hummer (Zool.), a humming bird of the genus
Trochilus. See Rubythroat.
[1913 Webster]
|