festoon

Well, hang upon me a string of flowers. Drape a garland over my arm in a "depending curve." Signify a feast. Festoon.



Apparently unrelated to cartoon, festoon still bears (in my mind) a dual clownship resulting from that "-oon" ending (let us not forget buffoon) and a recollection of Feste the Fool, from Twelfth Night. (Twelfth is a semi-interesting word itself, by virtue of its spelling, twelve's v changing to an f the way it happens in fifth looks somehow impossible, perhaps because of that w early in the word, which sets me up for some Welsh conundrum.)


Therefore let me festoon this lowly dictionary with this fruity word.

It's too bad one can't say "fruity" without certain connotations.

The image is from Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Festoon_(PSF).png.

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Festoon
Festoon Fes*toon", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Festooned; p. pr. &
vb. n. Festooning.]
To form in festoons, or to adorn with festoons.
[1913 Webster]

-- From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Festoon Fes*toon", n. [F. feston (cf. Sp. feston, It.
festone), prob. fr. L. festum festival. See Feast.]
1. A garland or wreath hanging in a depending curve, used in
decoration for festivals, etc.; anything arranged in this
way.
[1913 Webster]

2. (Arch. & Sculp.) A carved ornament consisting of flowers,
and leaves, intermixed or twisted together, wound with a
ribbon, and hanging or depending in a natural curve. See
Illust. of Bucranium.
[1913 Webster]

-- From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

festoon
n 1: a curtain of fabric draped and bound at intervals to form
graceful loops
2: an embellishment consisting of a decorative representation
of a string of flowers suspended between two points; used
on pottery or in architectural work
3: flower chains suspended in loops between points [syn: festoonery]
v : decorate with strings of flowers; "The public buildings were
festooned for the holiday"

-- From WordNet (r) 2.0

57 Moby Thesaurus words for "festoon":
arc, boughpot, bouquet, boutonniere, bow, bravery, buttonhole,
catacaustic, catenary, caustic, chaplet, chiffon, circle,
clinquant, conchoid, corsage, crook, curl, curve, diacaustic,
ellipse, festoons, finery, flower arrangement, folderol, foofaraw,
frilliness, frilling, frills, frills and furbelows, frippery,
froufrou, fuss, gaiety, garland, gaudery, gilding, gilt,
gingerbread, hook, hyperbola, lei, lituus, nosegay, parabola,
paste, pinchbeck, posy, sinus, spray, superfluity, tinsel, tracery,
trappings, trickery, trumpery, wreath



-- From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0