cordon
- a line of police, sentinels, military posts, warships, etc., enclosing or guarding an area.
- a cord or braid worn for ornament or as a fastening.
- a ribbon worn usually diagonally across the breast as a badge of a knightly or honorary order.
- Fortification.
- a projecting course of stones at the base of a parapet.
- the coping of a scarp.
- Architecture.
- a stringcourse, especially one having little or no projection.
- a cut-stone riser on a stepped ramp or the like.
- a fruit tree or shrub trained to grow along a support or a series of such supports.
- to surround or blockade with or as with a cordon (usually followed by off): The police cordoned off the street.
Origin of cordon
Examples from the Web for cordoned
Contemporary Examples
He complained that not only has their house been cordoned off and “fumigated” but most of the neighbors have fled in fear.
Planes, boats, cars, strangers—all were banned from entering the cordoned off area.
A big section of Watertown was cordoned off and police began a methodical, door-to-door, nerve-straining search.
Indeed, Romney has cordoned off major sections of his life, leaving him little to share beyond policy talking points.
Police have cordoned off the street and muscled bodyguards keep the crowds at bay and out of the camera sights.
Historical Examples
In the blinding height of a Panhandle summer it is no good thing to be cordoned about with dead ponies and dead Indians.
The Sunset TrailAlfred Henry Lewis
Holding a baby in her arms, she burst out of the ring of men who had cordoned off the beheading.
The Saracen: The Holy WarRobert Shea
The place could have been cordoned off, with the police, the army and the navy all cooperating to nab me.
The Old Die RichHorace Leonard Gold
cordon
- a chain of police, soldiers, ships, etc, stationed around an area
- a ribbon worn as insignia of honour or rank
- a cord or ribbon worn as an ornament or fastening
- Also called: string course, belt course, table architect an ornamental projecting band or continuous moulding along a wall
- horticulture a form of fruit tree consisting of a single stem bearing fruiting spurs, produced by cutting back all lateral branches
- (tr often foll by off) to put or form a cordon (around); close (off)
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for cordoned
cordon
n.
mid-15c., "cord or ribbon worn as an ornament," from Middle French cordon "ribbon," diminutive of Old French corde "cord" (see cord). Sense of "a line of people or things guarding something" is 1758. Original sense preserved in cordon bleu (1727) "the highest distinction," literally "blue ribbon," for the sky-blue ribbon worn by the Knights-grand-cross of the Holy Ghost (highest order of chivalry); extended figuratively to other persons of distinction, especially, jocularly, to a first-rate cook. Cordon sanitaire (1857), from French, a guarded line between infected and uninfected districts.
cordon
v.
1560s, "to ornament with a ribbon;" 1891 as "to guard with a cordon;" from cordon (n.). Related: Cordoned; cordoning.