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cordon

 - 3 dictionary results

cor⋅don

  [kawr-dn]
Use cordon in a Sentence
–noun
1. a line of police, sentinels, military posts, warships, etc., enclosing or guarding an area.
2. a cord or braid worn for ornament or as a fastening.
3. a ribbon worn usually diagonally across the breast as a badge of a knightly or honorary order.
4. Fortification.
a. a projecting course of stones at the base of a parapet.
b. the coping of a scarp.
5. Architecture.
a. a stringcourse, esp. one having little or no projection.
b. a cut-stone riser on a stepped ramp or the like.
6. a fruit tree or shrub trained to grow along a support or a series of such supports.
–verb (used with object)
7. to surround or blockade with or as with a cordon (usually fol. by off): The police cordoned off the street.
Origin:
1400–50; ME < MF, dim. of corde
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To cordon
cor·don   (kôr'dn)   
n.  

  1. A line of people, military posts, or ships stationed around an area to enclose or guard it.

  2. A cord or braid worn as a fastening or ornament.

  3. A ribbon usually worn diagonally across the breast as a badge of honor or decoration.

  4. Architecture A stringcourse.

  5. Botany A tree or shrub, especially a fruit tree such as an apple or pear, repeatedly pruned and trained to grow on a support as a single ropelike stem.

tr.v.   cor·doned, cor·don·ing, cor·dons
To form a cordon around (an area) so as to prevent movement in or out: Troops cordoned off the riot zone.

[French, from Old French, diminutive of corde, cord; see cord.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

cordon 
1440, from M.Fr. cordon "ribbon," dim. of O.Fr. corde "cord" (see cord). Sense of "a line of people or things guarding something" is 1758. Original sense preserved in cordon bleu (1727) "the highest distinction," lit. "blue ribbon," for the sky-blue ribbon worn by the Knights-grand-cross of the Holy Ghost (highest order of chivalry); extended figuratively to other persons of distinction, especially, jocularly, to a first-rate cook. Cordon sanitaire (1857), from Fr., a guarded line between infected and uninfected districts.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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