In chivalry, the term attaint meant to strike the helmet and shield of an opponent so firmly with the lance held in a direct line, as either to break the lance or knock over the person struck.
In law, an attaint was formerly a writ at common law against a jury for a false verdict. It is now obsolete in England. Research Attaint
In sculpture, a colossus is a statue of enormous magnitude. The Asiatics, the Egyptians, and in particular the Greeks, have excelled in these works. The most celebrated Egyptian colossus was the vocal statue of Memnon in the plain of Thebes, supposed to be identical with the most northerly of two existing colossi (60 feet high) on the west bank of the Nile.
Among the colossi of Greece the most celebrated was the Colossus of Rhodes, a brass statue of Apollo 70 cubits high, esteemed one of the wonders of the world, erected at the port of Rhodes by Chares, 290 or 288 BC. It was knocked down by an earthquake about 224 BC. The statue was in ruins for nearly nine centuries, when the Saracens, taking Rhodes, sold the metal, weighing 720,900 lbs, to a Jew, about 653. There is no authority for the popularly-received statement that it bestrode the harbour mouth, and that the Rhodian vessels could pass under its legs.
Among the colossi of Phidias were the Olympian Zeus and the Athena of the Parthenon; the former 60 feet high and the latter 40 feet.
The most famous of the Roman colossi were the Jupiter of the Capitol, the Apollo of the Palatine Library, and the statue of Nero, 110 or 120 feet high, and from which the contiguous amphitheatre derived its name of Colosseum.
Among modern works of this nature is the colossus of San Carlo Borromeo, at Arona, in the Milanese territory, 60 feet in height; the 'Bavaria' at Munich, 65 feet high; the statue of Hermann or Arminius near Detmold, erected in 1875, 90 feet in height to the point of the upraised sword, which itself is 24 feet in length; the height of the figure to the point of the helmet being 55 feet;
the statue of Germania, erected in 1883 near Rudesheim, a figure 34 feet high, placed on an elaborately-sculptured pedestal over 81 feet high; and Bartholdi's statue of Liberty presented to the United States by the French nation, and which measures 104 feet or to the extremity of the torch in the hand of the figure 138 feet. It is erected at New York harbour on a pedestal 114 feet, is constructed for a lighthouse with what was at one time was one of the most powerful fixed lights in the world, and stands 317 feet above mean tide. Research Colossus
Ich Dien (German: I serve) was the motto under the plume of ostrich feathers found in the helmet of the king of Bohemia slain at the Battle of Cressy, at which he served as a volunteer in the French army, in 1346. Edward the Black Prince, in respect to his father, Edward III, who commanded at the battle, adopted the motto which has since been borne with the feathers, by the heirs to the crown of England. Research Ich Dien
Lambrequin was originally a material covering worn over a helmet. It is now a term applied to a short piece of drapery hung over the top of a door or window. Research Lambrequin
The cassowary (Casuaridae) are a family of ruminating birds of the order Casuariformes. They are similar to the ostrich, but have characteristic feet with three toes, the inner toe possessing a long sharp claw, unusually strong legs, a bare head and neck and a helmet on the head which is larger on the male than the female. Cassowary are found in the woods of New Guinea, New Britain, north Queensland and Ceram. Research Cassowary
The Casuaridae are a family of the order Casuariformes. These are the cassowaries. They have strong legs and a bald head topped with a helmet. Research Casuaridae
Downy hempnettle (Galeopsis segetum) is a west European annual herb of the family Labiate with an erect, branched, square stem and opposite, ovate to lanceolate and serrate leaves from whose axils pale-yellow flowers grow arranged in whorls. The corolla is two-lipped, the upper lip helmet-shaped and the lower lip with three spreading lobes. The fruit consists of four one seeded nutlets. Research Downy Hempnettle
The emu or emeu (Dromaius Novoe Hollandioe) is a large, ostrich-like flightless bird found in the plains of Australia where it eats fruits, vegetable matter, roots etc. The emu resembles the cassowary in its vestigial wings and double- plumed feathers, but differing in the absence of the helmet, wattles, and spine-like quills on the wings. It nearly equals the ostrich in bulk, being thicker in the body, though its legs and neck are shorter. Its feet are three-toed (the ostrich has two toes), and its feathers, which are double, are of a dull sooty-brown colour, those about the, neck and head being of a hairy texture. Unusually the female emu is larger, more pugnacious and noisier than the male, resembling in demeanour the cock of other species of bird.
The wings are small and useless for flight, but the bird can run with great speed, and emu coursing as a sport was formerly very popular and led to a drastic reduction in the numbers of emus during the 19th century.
The feathers of the emu are used in industry for dust removal, for instance in the manufacture of motor vehicles, vehicles are passed through rollers covered in emu feathers to remove dust particles from the vehicle prior to it being painted - by 2008 no synthetic substance having been found which is as effective at dust removal. Research Emu
Helmet-shell is a common name for molluscs of the genusCassis, gastropods of the family Buccinidae found mainly on tropical shores. Research Helmet-shell
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Attaint
