CORDON (a

See also:

• FRENCH
• FRENCH, DANIEL CHESTER (1850– )
• FRENCH, NICHOLAS (1604-1678)

French derivative of corde,

See also:

• CORD (derived through the Fr. corde, from the Lat. chorda, Gr. xop(5rt, the string of a musical instrument)

cord)  , a wordusedin many applications of its meaning of " line " or " cord," and particularly of a cord of gold or silver lace worn in military and other uniforms . The word is especially used of the sash or ribbon worn by members of an order of knighthood, crossing from one shoulder to the opposite hip . The cordon bleu, the sky-blue ribbon of the knight's grand cross of the order of the Holy Spirit, the highest order of the Bourbon kings of France, was, like the "blue ribbon " of the English Garter, taken as a type of the highest reward or prize to which any one can attain (see also COOKERY) . In heraldry, " cordons " are the ornamental cords which, with the hats to which they are attached, ensign the shields of arms of certain ecclesiastical dignitaries; they are interlaced to form a mesh or network and terminate in rows of tassels . A cardinal's cordon is gules with five rows of fifteen tassels, an archbishop's vest with four rows of ten, and a bishop's also vert, with three rows of six . In architecture a " cordon " is a projecting band of stone along the outside of a building, a string-course . The word is frequently used in a transferred sense of a line of posts or stations to guard an enclosed area from unauthorized passage, e.g. a military or police cordon, and especially a sanitary cordon, a line of posts to prevent communication from or with an area infected with disease .