shoulder knot

noun

1. a knot of ribbon or lace worn on the shoulder, as by men of fashion in the 17th and 18th centuries, by servants in livery, or by women or children.
2. one of a pair of detachable ceremonial ornaments consisting of braided cord, worn on the shoulders by a commissioned officer.

Word History and Origins

Origin of shoulder knot¹

First recorded in 1670–80

Example Sentences

In the Lieutenant’s hands were the staff and hat, the shoulder knot, badge and neckerchief of the Tenderfoot Elise.

From Project Gutenberg

It was first used merely as a shoulder knot to fasten the baldric, and the application of it to mark distinctive grades of rank was begun in France at the suggestion, it is said, of Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, duc de Belle-Isle, in 1759.

From Project Gutenberg

His hose, his stockings and the lining of his cloak were blue and of the color of his shoulder knot.

From Project Gutenberg

She wore an elegant riding habit—a long skirt and closely fitting jacket of a pearl-grey material, trimmed with knots of ribbon of the same azure-blue color as her shoulder knot and the feathers in her broad-brimmed black felt hat.

From Project Gutenberg

He is jogging along fast, his "shoulder knot a-creaking," and the water that splashes on to the hot dust intensifies the feeling of heat and light.

From Project Gutenberg