27 October 2018
accoutrement
[uh-koo-ter-muh nt, -truh-]
noun
1. personal clothing, accessories, etc.
2. the equipment, excluding weapons and clothing, of a soldier.
Also, especially British, accoutrement.
Origin of accouterment
Middle French
1540-1550 From the Middle French word accou(s)trement, dating back to 1540-50. See accouter, -ment
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for accouterment
Contemporary Examples
These gentlemen, said Clausewitz in brief, had the misfortune of mistaking the accoutrements of war for its essential nature.
How Clausewitz Invented Modern War
James A. Warren
November 24, 2014
Power, and the accoutrements of power, would fill the vacuum created by the absence of ideas.
Why Pakistan’s Mohammed Ali Jinnah Was No Nelson Mandela
Kapil Komireddi
April 7, 2013
As with other accoutrements of the high-end lifestyle, not all backup generators are created equal.
After Storm, Who’s Got the Real Power? Look for Backup Generators
Daniel Gross
October 30, 2012
Historical Examples
Their accoutrements clattered and clinked in the intense stillness.
The Crimson Tide
Robert W. Chambers
To pass, the uniform and accoutrements of a soldier are not enough.
New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 5, August, 1915
Various
The cavalry dashed off amid a jingling of swords and accoutrements.
The Coming Conquest of England
August Niemann
At the foot you will find my uniform, rifle, and accoutrements.
Through Three Campaigns
G. A. Henty
They had not discarded their accoutrements and each man had his sword by his side.
“Unto Caesar”
Baroness Emmuska Orczy
He stared at them, fascinated by the jingling and clattering of their accoutrements.
The Northern Iron
George A. Birmingham
Each of these carried one hundred men with their arms and accoutrements.
The Naval History of the United States
Willis J. Abbot.
Word Origin and History for accouterment
n.
1540s, from Middle French accoustrement (Modern French accoutrement), from accoustrer probably from Old French acostrer “arrange,” originally “sew up” (see accouter )
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Today’s quote
When other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers I kind of wanted to be a vampire.
– Angelina Jolie
On this day
27 October 1728 – birth of Captain James Cook, British explorer. Made three major voyages in which he discovered many of the islands of the south pacific, including the east coast of Australia. Cooktown, Queensland, is named after him. The house he grew up in was relocated from Yorkshire, England, to Melbourne, Australia and is open to visits (now known as Captain Cook’s Cottage and is situated in Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne). Died 14 February 1779 after being stabbed by Hawaiians who credited their Chief Kalanimanokahoowaha (Kanaina) with the kill. Captain Cook’s body was then subjected to a funeral ritual that was normally reserved for a Chief.
27 October 1923 – birth of Roy Lichtenstein, American pop artist. Died 29 September 1997.
27 October 1927 – death of Joseph Theodore Leslie (Squizzy) Taylor, Australian gangster, earned money from sly-grog, two-up, illegal bookmaking, extortion, prostitution, cocaine dealing. Died from a gunshot wound inflicted by ‘Snowy’ Cutmore. Born 29 June 1888.
27 October 1932 – birth of Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Boston, she travelled to the UK and studied at Cambridge University. It was here that she met British poet, Ted Hughes. In 1957 they married. For a while they lived in Boston, before returning to England and living in London and later Devon. Plath often wrote about her experiences, particularly with depression. She advanced the genre of ‘confessional poetry’. Plath struggled with the loneliness of Devon and returned to London, renting a unit in house in which the poet, William Butler Yeats once lived. The unit was owned by Assia and David Wevill. Plath’s husband, Ted Hughes, was captivated by Assia’s beauty. In September 1962, Plath left Hughes after discovering he’d been having an affair with Assia. Plath suffered bipolar disorder and had made numerous suicide attempts throughout her life. In February 1963, she suicided by turning the gas on in her oven and placing her head in it. She had sealed her children’s rooms with wet towels to avoid poisoning them. Plath had published a number of poetry collections and some were published post-humously. In 1982, she was awarded a post-humous Pulitzer Prize for her poetry. She is considered one of the great poets of the 20th century. Died 11 February 1963.
27 October 2013 – death of Lou Reed (Lewis Allan Reed), American glam rock musician, singer and song-writer. Was lead singer of 60s alternative band, Velvet Underground, before going solo and having hits such as ‘Walk on the Wild Side’, ‘Vicious’, ‘Satellite of Love’ and ‘Perfect Day’. His albums Transformer and Berlin are considered among the most influential albums of the 20th century. Reed coined the term ‘Ostrich tuning’ in relation to a type of trivial tuning of strings. The six strings of a guitar are normally tuned to EADGbe. However in his 1964 song, The Ostrich (performed by the Primitives, which later became Velvet Underground) Reed tuned all six strings of his guitar to a single D note: DDDDdd. Born 2 March 1942.
