clarion

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See also: Clarion and clarión

English

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WOTD – 22 November 2022

Pronunciation

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A statue depicting the Herald of Victory sounding a clarion (sense 1), atop the Grand Army Plaza Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch, in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
The coat of arms of Sir Thomas Grenville II (c. 1453 – c. 1513) features three clarions (sense 3) or (gold).

Etymology 1

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The noun is derived from Middle English clarion, clarioun (“trumpet with a narrow tube and a shrill sound, clarion; clarion player”) [and other forms],[1] from Old French claron, clarïon (“clarion”) [and other forms], from Medieval Latin clāriōn, clario, clārōn (“clarion; trumpet”), from Latin clārus (“audible; clear, distinct, loud; (visually) bright, clear”),[2] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, summon; to cry”).

The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.[2][3]

Noun

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clarion (plural clarions)

  1. (music, historical or poetic) A medieval brass instrument chiefly used as a battle signal; related to the trumpet, it had a narrow, straight pipe and a high-pitched, piercing sound.
    The clarion’s call to action has been heard.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 531–533:
      Then ſtrait commands that at the warlike ſound / Of Trumpets loud and Clarions be upreard / His mighty Standard; […]
    • 1841 September 28, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[Miscellaneous.] Excelsior.”, in Ballads and Other Poems, 2nd edition, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, published 1842, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 129:
      And like a silver clarion rung / The accents of that unknown tongue, / Excelsior!
    • 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “May-Day”, in May-Day and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, pages 33–34:
      There is no bard in all the choir, / Nor Homer's self, the poet sire, / […] / Nor Collins' verse of tender pain, / Nor Byron's clarion of disdain, / […] / Not one of all can put in verse, / Or to this presence could rehearse, / The sights and voices ravishing / The boy knew on the hills in spring, […]
      A figurative use.
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Triumph”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 234:
      Blind me, take away mine eyes, and let the darkness utterly fence me in, and still mine ears would catch the tone of thy unforgotten voice, striking more loud against the portals of my sense than can the call of brazen-throated clarions:– […]
  2. (by extension)
    1. (poetic) The sound of a clarion (sense 1), or any sound resembling the loud, high-pitched note of a clarion.
    2. (music) An organ stop consisting of pipes with reeds giving a high-pitched note like that of a clarion (sense 1).
  3. (heraldry) A charge thought to represent a type of wind instrument, a keyboard instrument like a spinet, or perhaps a rest used by a knight to support a lance during jousting.
    Synonyms: clarichord, rest, sufflue
Derived terms
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Translations
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Adjective

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clarion (not comparable)

  1. Of a sound, a voice, a message, etc.: brilliantly clear.
    her clarion top notes
    • 1841 September 28, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[Miscellaneous.] Excelsior.”, in Ballads and Other Poems, 2nd edition, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, published 1842, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 130:
      And loud that clarion voice replied / Excelsior!
    • 2017 July 31, Anthony Tommasini, “Review: Flawed but Fascinating Dvorak Opera in a Rare Staging”, in New York Times‎[1]:
      Clay Hilley brought vocal heft, clarion sound and stamina to the role, though there were stretches where his voice sounded strained, understandably so, given the demands.
    • 2021 March 24, Sebastian Smee, “Van Gogh’s astonishing masterpiece”, in Washington Post‎[2]:
      The clarion immediacy of Van Gogh’s painting was echoed by his prose.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English clariounen (“of a horn or trumpet: to blow, sound”),[4] from clarioun (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitives of verbs).[5] Later uses may also be derived directly from the noun.[6]

Verb

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clarion (third-person singular simple present clarions, present participle clarioning, simple past and past participle clarioned) (rare)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To announce or herald (something) using a clarion (noun sense 1).
      1. (figuratively) To announce or herald (something) clearly, especially so as to stir or unite people.
        • 1946, Rebecca Rogers, They Ask for Bread, New York, N.Y.: Rockport Press Publishers, →OCLC, page 16:
          His deep voice clarioned the words and he paused, hearing them whisper away into their last faint echoes in the organ loft.
        • 1997, Cedric J[ames] Robinson, “The Search for Higher Ground”, in Black Movements in America (Revolutionary Thought/Radical Movements), New York, N.Y., London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 144:
          He [Martin Luther King Jr.] clarioned a call to action that was heard wherever Afro-Christians could be found (and beyond, if one recalls Pentecostalism).
        • 2004, Brian Keenan, “First Footfalls in Fairbanks”, in Four Quarters of Light: A Journey through Alaska, London, Toronto, Ont.: Doubleday, →ISBN, page 28:
          All around me the tamaracks, alder birches and willows would send up amber and golden flares clarioning the winter; […]
    2. (also figuratively) Of a thing: to cause (a place) to echo with a sound like that of a clarion.
      • 1833, [Richard Henry Horne], “Of Composers, and Instrumental Performers”, in Exposition of the False Medium and Barriers Excluding Men of Genius from the Public, London: Effingham Wilson, […], →OCLC, page 49:
        Sir Knight, thy glory clarioneth the heavens.
  2. (intransitive) To sound a clarion; also, to make a high-pitched, piercing sound like that of a clarion.
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “clariǒun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “clarion, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “clarion, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “clarion, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “clariǒunen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ^ “-en, suf.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  6. ^ Compare “clarion, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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