espagnolette

[ ih-span-yuh-let, ih-span-yuh-let ]

noun

1. (on a French window or the like) one of a pair of rods, controlled by a knob mechanism, having hooked ends that engage catches in the head and sill of the frame.
2. Furniture. a feature, often a bronze mount, set at the top of a leg and having the form of a female breast.

Word History and Origins

Origin of espagnolette¹

1865–70; < French < Provençal espagnouleto, diminutive of espanhol Spanish

Example Sentences

The knots in the handkerchiefs used to tie him to the espagnolette were both complicated and tightly made.

From Project Gutenberg

They then threw themselves on the Prince, gripped him firmly, and could easily pin him down on his bed; then the most desperate and dexterous of the murderers suffocated him as he was thus held firmly down; finally, in order to make it appear that he had committed suicide and to hinder any judicial investigations which might have discovered the identity of the assassins, they fastened a handkerchief about their victim's neck, and hung him up by the espagnolette of the window.

From Project Gutenberg