FESTOON

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does festoon mean? 

• FESTOON (noun)
  The noun FESTOON has 3 senses:

1. a curtain of fabric draped and bound at intervals to form graceful curves

2. an embellishment consisting of a decorative representation of a string of flowers suspended between two points; used on pottery or in architectural work

3. flower chains suspended in curves between points as a decoration

  Familiarity information: FESTOON used as a noun is uncommon.

• FESTOON (verb)
  The verb FESTOON has 1 sense:

1. decorate with strings of flowers

  Familiarity information: FESTOON used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FESTOON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A curtain of fabric draped and bound at intervals to form graceful curves

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("festoon" is a kind of...):

curtain; drape; drapery; mantle; pall (hanging cloth used as a blind (especially for a window))

Sense 2

Meaning:

An embellishment consisting of a decorative representation of a string of flowers suspended between two points; used on pottery or in architectural work

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("festoon" is a kind of...):

embellishment (a superfluous ornament)

Derivation:

festoon (decorate with strings of flowers)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Flower chains suspended in curves between points as a decoration

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

festoon; festoonery

Hypernyms ("festoon" is a kind of...):

flower chain (flowers strung together in a chain)

Derivation:

festoon (decorate with strings of flowers)

• FESTOON (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they festoon    ... he / she / it festoons   
Past simple: festooned   
Past participle: festooned   
-ing form: festooning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Decorate with strings of flowers

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

The public buildings were festooned for the holiday

Hypernyms (to "festoon" is one way to...):

adorn; beautify; decorate; embellish; grace; ornament (make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

festoon (flower chains suspended in curves between points as a decoration)

festoon (an embellishment consisting of a decorative representation of a string of flowers suspended between two points; used on pottery or in architectural work)

festoonery (flower chains suspended in curves between points as a decoration)

 Context examples 

Overhead was the week's washing, hanging in festoons so low that Martin did not see at first the two men talking in a corner.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Between her agitation, and her natural awkwardness in getting out of the cart, Peggotty was making a most extraordinary festoon of herself, but I felt too blank and strange to tell her so.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Did ever a vessel come out of Toulon as my 38-gun frigate did from Plymouth last year, with her masts rolling about until her shrouds were like iron bars on one side and hanging in festoons upon the other?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mornin' now, announced Demi in joyful tone as he entered, with his long nightgown gracefully festooned over his arm and every curl bobbing gayly as he pranced about the table, eyeing the 'cakies' with loving glances.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

You had better stay till the curtain is hung, interposed Mrs. Norris; the curtain will be hung in a day or two—there is very little sense in a play without a curtain—and I am much mistaken if you do not find it draw up into very handsome festoons.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Thursday came: all work had been completed the previous evening; carpets were laid down, bed-hangings festooned, radiant white counterpanes spread, toilet tables arranged, furniture rubbed, flowers piled in vases: both chambers and saloons looked as fresh and bright as hands could make them.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A bed supported on massive pillars of mahogany, hung with curtains of deep red damask, stood out like a tabernacle in the centre; the two large windows, with their blinds always drawn down, were half shrouded in festoons and falls of similar drapery; the carpet was red; the table at the foot of the bed was covered with a crimson cloth; the walls were a soft fawn colour with a blush of pink in it; the wardrobe, the toilet-table, the chairs were of darkly polished old mahogany.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)