quintain

[kwin-tn]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR quintain ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an object mounted on a post or attached to a movable crossbar mounted on a post, used as a target in the medieval sport of tilting.

the sport of tilting at a quintain.

Origin of quintain

1400–50; late Middle English quyntain object for tilting at < Middle French quintaine or Medieval Latin quintāna, of obscure origin; the alleged connection with Latin quīntāna “market place in a military camp” is dubious

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for quintain

center, target, butt, omphalos, quintain

Examples from the Web for quintain

Historical Examples of quintain

The game of quintain, which I need not describe, was much in vogue.
Memorials of Old London
Various
Soon he was allowed to tilt with his horse and lance at the quintain.
Life on a Mediaeval Barony
William Stearns Davis
They always kept up the sport of tilting at the Quintain in the water.
London
Walter Besant
Accordingly she once more betook herself to the quintain post.
Barchester Towers
Anthony Trollope
The animal swerved and shied and galloped off wide of the quintain.
Barchester Towers
Anthony Trollope

British Dictionary definitions for quintain

quintain

noun (esp in medieval Europe)

a post or target set up for tilting exercises for mounted knights or foot soldiers

the exercise of tilting at such a target

Word Origin for quintain

C14: from Old French quintaine, from Latin: street in a Roman camp between the fifth and sixth maniples, from quintus fifth

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for quintain

"target for tilting and jousting practice," c.1400 (in Anglo-Latin from mid-13c.), from Old French quintaine or directly from Medieval Latin quintana; perhaps from Latin quintana "of the fifth" (see quinque-), which as a noun meant "the business part of a camp," on the supposition that this was where military exercises were done [OED].