Library / English Dictionary

PARCHMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Skin of a sheep or goat prepared for writing on

Synonyms:

lambskin; parchment; sheepskin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

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

animal skin (the outer covering of an animal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "parchment"):

vellum (fine parchment prepared from the skin of a young animal e.g. a calf or lamb)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A superior paper resembling sheepskin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

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

paper (a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Two Harvard researchers say they have found a rare parchment copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence — in England.

(Parchment Copy of Declaration of Independence Found in Small British Town, VOA)

What was the benefit of a law written fair upon parchment, he wondered, if there were no officers to enforce it.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Alleyne sat down as ordered, with a pen in his hand and a fresh sheet of parchment before him, while Sir Nigel slowly spelled out his letter, running his forefinger on from word to word.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The dead robber swung slowly to and fro in the wintry wind, a fixed smile upon his swarthy face, and his bulging eyes still glaring down the highway of which he had so long been the terror; on a sheet of parchment upon his breast was printed in rude characters;

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The squire rose and proceeded to the pavilion, where he found the knight seated upon a cushion, with his legs crossed in front of him and a broad ribbon of parchment laid across his knees, over which he was poring with frowning brows and pursed lips.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The importance of the family had thus dwindled, but they still retained the old Saxon manor-house, with a couple of farms and a grove large enough to afford pannage to a hundred pigs—sylva de centum porcis, as the old family parchments describe it.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Between them stood a lean, white-faced brother who appeared to be ill at ease, shifting his feet from side to side and tapping his chin nervously with the long parchment roll which he held in his hand.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Two knights in full armor, with lances raised and closed visors, sat their horses on either side, while in the centre, with two pages to tend upon him, there stood a noble-faced man in flowing purple gown, who pricked off upon a sheet of parchment the style and title of each applicant, marshalling them in their due order, and giving to each the place and facility which his rank demanded.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)