pelta
/ˈpɛltə/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A small shield, especially one of an approximately elliptical form, or crescent-shaped.
noun
A crescent-shaped design used in mosaics.
noun
A flat apothecium with no rim.
noun
A crescent-shaped sheet of microtubules that encircles the base of the flagella of a protozoan.
Example Sentences
- "Xenophon also mentions bronze peltae, but probably (like hoplite shields) they were only faced with a thin covering of bronze."
- "The other subject illustrated in these scenes of silens carrying peltas appears to be a battle."
- "After the Celtic invasion of Greece and the subsequent removal of some Celts (the Galatians) to Asia Minor in the 270s, Greek light troops seem to have stopped using the pelta, and adopted instead the large, oval Celtic shield with a central spine."
- "A pattern of red and blue peltae on a white ground, arranged in groups of four with two peltae placed back to back and one at each end facing inward, forms the outer border on the east side of the mosaic."
- "Evidently it was a deliberate choice to select from the repertory of opus sectile, often extremely figurative, only those decorative motifs that were amenable to sixteenth-century architectural classicism, like the peltae on the Farnese tables, which were still used for the seventeenth-century pavement of the Confessio of St Peter's."
- "Surrounding the square frame of round-tongued double guilloche is a broad white band with large lozenges (two on each side), outlined dark grey, with their acute angles terminating in voluted peltae with undulating spurs on their roundels."
Etymology
From Latin pelta, from Ancient Greek πέλτη (péltē, “shield”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: πέλτη