gorger 
1269. From the poem, however, it would seem that the 
gorger was confined to elderly ladies. 
Sir F. Madden, quoted in Sir Gawayne and the Green 
[Knight (E. E. T. S.), notes, p. 82. 
gorger- (gor'jer), it. [< gorge + -er 1 . Cf. OF. 
gorgeonr, a glutton.] Olio who or that which 
gorges; specilically (naut.), a big haul or heavy 
dock of fish. 
gorgeret (gor'jer-et), it. [< OP. gorgeret, gor- 
ijicrel, m., guryerette, ., a niff, gorget, dim. of 
gorgier, gorgere, etc., a gorger: see gorged.] 
In surg., same as gorget, 5. 
And now, over the probe I pass a little gorgeret : . . . 
this has its blade directed upward. 
Medical Newt, XLIX. 815. 
gorgerette (gor-j6-ret'), [OF., < gorge, 
throat: see gorgeri.] In armor: (a) Same as 
the standard of chain-mail. (6) A variety of 
the plate gorget of which the hausse-col was 
the latest form. 
gorgerin (g6r'jer-in), . [< F. gorgerin, < gorge, 
the throat: see gorge, u., gorger 1 .] 1. Inarch., 
the neck of a capital, or more commonly a fea- 
ture forming the junction between the shaft 
and the capital; a necking. 2. A name for 
the gorget, plastron, or hausse-col that is, for 
any piece of armor covering the throat; espe- 
cially, a second thickness bolted upon the cui- 
rass of tilting-armor at the throat. 
gorget (gor'jet), . [< OF. gorgette, gorgete, the 
throat, F. dial, gorgette, a collar, a bib, dim. of 
gorge, the throat: see gorge, n. Cf. the earlier 
gorger 1 .] 1. A piece of armor protecting the 
Gorgets. 
I, Hausse-col (a) attached to the brigandine, igth century. 2, 
Hausse-col t<r) worn over mail, early isth century. (From Violfet-le- 
Due's " Diet, du Mobilier francais.") 
throat and sometimes the upper part of the 
breast. When of chain-mail it usually formed part of 
the camail, and such a mail gorget remained in use even 
after the adoption of the breastplate of hammered steel. 
The plate gorget forms a part of the plastron in the armor 
of the fifteenth century. The latest form was the hausse- 
col. In later days it dwindled in size till it became the 
small badge of an officer on duty. 
A shaft which some too lucky hand doth guide, 
Piercing his garget, brought him to his end. 
Drayton, Agincourt. 
Undo the visor's barred band, 
Unfix the gorget's iron clasp, 
And give him room for life to gasp ! 
Scott, L. of L. M., v. 2-2. 
The gorgets [worn by North American Indians] consist 
of plates of shell having holes bored for suspension, being 
also elaborately carved and ornamented. 
A. W. Buekland, Jour, of Anthrop. Inst., XVI. 156. 
2. A variety of wimple in use in the fourteenth 
century. It was worn very tight and close. 3. 
An ornamental neck-band having a consider- 
able breadth, especially in front. 
Breeches and black gaiters, with coats open from the 
top button and showing a waistcoat, were worn [in 1788] ; 
also a gorget, an indication of an officer being on duty. 
Fortnightly Ilco., N. S., XLIII. 876. 
4. In ornith., a throat-patch in any way dis- 
tinguished by the color or texture of the fea- 
thers. Also gorgelet. 
Both races also possess brilliant plumage, with metallic 
crests or gorgets. Q. Allen, Colin Clout's Calendar, p. 53. 
5. In surg., a grooved instrument used in op- 
erations for 
anal fistula and 
in lithotomy. 
It serves as a 
guide, and in 
some instances 
is furnished 
with a blade for 
cutting. Also 
gorgeret. 
gorgon (gor'- 
gou), H. and a. 
[<f L. Gorgona, 
Gorgo(n-),<. Gr. 
Topyu, < j-opyof, 
grim, fierce, 
terrible.] I. . 
1. [co;i.] In 
Gr. mi/th., afe- 
i '' Gorgon. Perseus and Medusa. Archaic 
male monster, metope from Selinous. Sicily. 
2579 
one of three sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Me- 
dusa, whose heads were covered with writhing 
serpents instead of hair, and the sight of whose 
terrific aspect turned the beholder to stone. 
Only Medusa was mortal, and she alone is 
meant when the Gorgon is mentioned singly. 
What new Gorgon's head 
Have you beheld, that you are all turn'd statues? 
Fletcher (and another), Queen of Corinth, v. -L 
Worse 
Than fables yet have feigivd, or fear conceived, 
Gorgons, and hydras, and chimaeras dire. 
Milton, P. L., ii. 628. 
Here was the retreat of the Gorgon, with snaky tresses, 
turning all she looked upon into stone. 
Sumner, White Slavery. 
2. The head of Medusa, after she was killed 
by Perseus, placed on the shield of Pallas, and, 
according to the legend, still capable of petri- 
fying beholders; hence, a representation of 
Medusa's head ; a gorgoneion. 
What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield, 
That wise Minerva wore 1 Milton, Comus, 1. 447. 
As if the dire goddess that presides over it [war], with 
her murderous spear in her hand and her gorgon at her 
breast, was a coquette to be flirted with. 
Burke, A Kegicide Peace. 
3. Something very ugly ; specifically, a woman 
of repulsive appearance or manners. 
I really came here to buy up all your stock ; but that 
gorgon, Lady de Courcy, captured me, and my ransom has 
sent me here free, but a beggar. 
Dieraeli, Young Duke, i. 2. 
4. A type of direct-acting marine engine for 
paddle-steamers. See marine engine, under 
marine. 5. A name, generic or specific, of the 
brindled gnu. Also Gorgonia. 
II. a. Like one of the Gorgons ; pertaining 
to a gorgon ; very ugly or repulsive. 
Why did'st thou not encounter man for man, 
And try the virtue of that gorgon face 
To stare me into statue ? Dryden. 
gorgonean, gorgonian (gor-go'ne-an, -ni-an), 
a. [< Gr. yopyovetos (> L. gorgonius), pertaining 
to the Gorgon, < Topya, Gorgon: see gorgon.] 
Like or characteristic of a Gorgon ; pertaining 
to the Gorgon. 
Medusa with Gorgonian terrour guards 
The ford. Milton, P. L., ii. 611. 
Still the sound 
Of her gorgonian shield my ears retain, 
Whilst earnest, striking on its rim her spear, 
The virgin warrior spake. Glover, Athenaid, xi. 
gorgoneion (gor-go-ni'on), n. ; pi. gorgoneia (-a). 
[NL., < Gr. yopySve ujv, the Gorgon's head, neilt. 
of yopy6viof, pertaining to the Gorgon : see gor- 
gonean.] A mask of the Gorgon ; the head of 
Medusa; in classical myth., such a mask or head 
as an attribute of Pallas, who bore it on her 
breast in the midst of her eegis, and also on her 
shield. See cut under aegis. It is a familiar attri- 
bute in Greek art> and was much used in Greek architec- 
ture for acroteria, anteflxes, etc., often in the precise type 
of the head of Medusa in the cut under Gorgon. 
On the ajgis of Athena in the west pediment had been 
a gorgoneion of metal. 
A. S. Murray, Greek Sculpture, I. 153. 
The goddess appeared with the gorgoneion on her chiton. 
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, p. 292. 
gorgonesque (gor-gon-esk'), a. [< Gorgon + 
-csque.] Gorgon-like ; repulsive ; terrifying. 
We are less ready to believe in his quailing before a 
mother-in-law so Gorgoneitque even as the ex-coryphee. 
Atftenceum, Sept 29, 1888, p. 426. 
Ctorgonia (g6r-go'ni-a), a. [L., coral, so called 
in allusion to its hardening in the air, fern, of 
gorgonius, pertaining to the Gorgon : see gorgo- 
nean.] 1. A Linnean genus of polyps, typical 
of the family Gorgoniidte; the sea-fans with 
arborescent sclerobase. See cut under coral. 
2. A genus of noctuid moths. Hiibner, 1816. 
3. A genus of gnus. See gnu. Also Gorgon. 
J. E. Gray. 
Grorgoniaceae (gdr-go-ni-a'se-e), n. pi. [NL., < 
Gorgonia, 1, + -acece.] An order of alcyonarian 
actinozoans, permanently rooted, with smooth 
ccenenchyma and erect, branched, horny or 
calcareous sclerobasic axis. The group contains 
several families, as Gorgoniidce, Gorgonellidae, and Brio- 
reidaf, as well as Coralliida!, the latter constituted by the 
red coral of commerce. Various forms of the order are 
known as sea-shrubs, sea-fane, and fan-corali. See cuts 
under coral and Coralligena. 
gorgoniacean (gor-go-ni-a'se-an), a. and . I. 
a. Of or pertaining to the' Gorgonia ceie; gor- 
gonian. 
II. n. Any member of the Gorgoniacece, as a 
gorgoniid. 
gprgoniaceous (gor-go-ni-a'shius), a. Pertain- 
ing to or having the characters of the Gorgoni- 
gorilla 
Gorgoniadae (gor-go-ni'a-de), n. pi. Same as 
Gori/oiiidcca: or Gorgoniidce. 
gorgonian 1 , a. See gorgonean. 
gorgonian' 2 (gor-go'ni-an), a. Of or pertaining 
to (lorginiia. 
Gorgonian corals of many species. Mature, XXX. 281. 
gorgpnid (g6r'go-nid), a. Of or pertaining to 
the family Gorgoniidte: as, a gorgonid coral. 
Gorgonidae (gor-gon'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Gor- 
gonia + -ifte.] See Gorgoniidce. 
gorgqniid (g6r-go'ni-id), n. One of the Gor- 
goniidce. 
Gorgoniidae (gor-go-ni'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Gor- 
gonia + -idat.] The typical family of Gorgo- 
niacefe, formerly conterminous therewith, now 
variously restricted, other groups more or less ex- 
actly the same are known as Qurgoniadae, Gorgonidte, Gor- 
goniece, Gorgonina, and Gorgonince. 
gorgonize (gor'gon-Iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. gor- 
gonized, ppr. gorgonizing. [< gorgon + -ize.] 
To affect as a Gorgon ; turn into stone ; petrify. 
Also spelled gorgonise. 
Oorgom'Md me from head to foot 
With a stony British stare. 
Tennyton, Maud, xiii. 2. 
Gorgonocephalus (g6r"g6-uo-sef 'a-lus), n. 
[NL., < Gr. Topyovj/, Topyu, Gorgon, + ne<t>a%q, the 
head.] A genus of euryalean ophiurians, or 
branching sand-stars, of the family Astrophy- 
tidie : so called from the popular name gorgon's- 
head. The genus resembles Astrophyton proper, but is 
less branched, with the arms narrow at the base, and the 
discal plates differently arranged. 
gorgon's-head (gor'gonz-hed), . A kind of 
basket-fish ; a many-rayed ophiurian, as of the 
fenus Astrophyton. One species of gorgon's- 
ead, A. scutatum, is called the Shetland argus. 
gorhen (g6r'hen), n. [See gorcock.] The fe- 
male of the gorcock. 
gorilla (go-rira), n. [NL., E., etc. ; a name re- 
cently applied to this ape, being taken from 
an African word mentioned (in the Gr. form 
TopiUa) in the Periplus (i. e., 'Circumnaviga- 
tion'), an account of a voyage made along the 
northwestern coasts of Africa in the 5th or 6th 
century B. c. by Hanno, a Carthaginian navi- 
gator, as the native name of a wild creature 
found on those coasts. The account, written 
orig. in the Punic language and translated into 
Greek, says that the voyagers found an island, 
in a lake near a bay called the "Southern 
Horn," "full of wild people (iivOp&vw aypiuv), 
the greater part of whom were females (ywal- 
/f, women), hairy on their bodies, whom our 
interpreters called Gorillas (Top!U.af). We pur- 
sued them, but could not capture the males 
(avSpaf, men); they all escaped, climbing the 
cliffs and hiding among the rocks ; but we cap- 
tured three females (ywainai;), who, biting and 
scratching their captors, refused to go along 
with them. We killed and skinned them and 
brought the skins to Carthage." (Periplus, 
xviii., in Geographi Greed Minorca, ed. C. Mtiller, 
I. 13, 14.) These creatures, apparently not re- 
garded by the Carthaginians as human beings, 
though spoken of in such terms, are supposed 
to have been apes, probably chimpanzees.] 1. 
The largest known anthropoid ape, Troglodytes 
Gorilla ( Tree lo&tes eorilla or Gorilla 
gorilla, of the family Simiida;, suborder Anthro- 
poidea, and order Primates, most closely resem- 
bling man, especially in the form of the pelvis 
