quintain
[kwin-tn]
- 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.
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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. 2018
Examples from the Web for quintain
Historical Examples
The game of quintain, which I need not describe, was much in vogue.
Memorials of Old LondonVarious
Soon he was allowed to tilt with his horse and lance at the quintain.
Life on a Mediaeval BaronyWilliam Stearns Davis
They always kept up the sport of tilting at the Quintain in the water.
LondonWalter Besant
Accordingly she once more betook herself to the quintain post.
Barchester TowersAnthony Trollope
The animal swerved and shied and galloped off wide of the quintain.
Barchester TowersAnthony Trollope
quintain
- a post or target set up for tilting exercises for mounted knights or foot soldiers
- the exercise of tilting at such a target
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for quintain
n.
"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].
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper