English

Noun

scutcheon ‎(plural scutcheons)

1. An escutcheon; an emblazoned shield (Wikipedia).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:

     But she againe him in the shield did smite / With so fierce furie and great puissaunce, / That, through his three-square scuchin piercing quite / And through his mayled hauberque, by mischaunce / The wicked steele through his left side did glaunce.

   The corpse lay in state, with all the pomp of scutcheons, wax lights, black hangings, and mutes. — Macaulay.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

   • 1935, Francis Beeding, chapter 10/6, in The Norwich Victims:

     The Attorney-General, however, had used this episode, which Martin in retrospect had felt to be a blot on the scutcheon, merely to emphasise the intelligence and resource of the prisoner.

2. A small plate of metal, such as the shield around a keyhole.