sequin

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se·quin

(sē′kwĭn)

1. A small shiny ornamental disk, often sewn on cloth; a spangle.

2. A gold coin of the Venetian Republic. Also called zecchino.

tr.v. se·quined, se·quin·ing, se·quins

To affix sequins to (a garment, for example).

[French, from Old French, Venetian coin, from Italian zecchino, from zecca, mint, from Arabic sikka, coin die, from sakka, to close, coin; see skk in Semitic roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sequin

(ˈsiːkwɪn)

1. (Clothing & Fashion) a small piece of shiny often coloured metal foil or plastic, usually round, used to decorate garments, etc

2. (Currencies) Also called: zecchino any of various gold coins that were formerly minted in Italy, Turkey, and Malta

[C17: via French from Italian zecchino, from zecca mint, from Arabic sikkah die for striking coins]

ˈsequinned, ˈsequined adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

se•quin

(ˈsi kwɪn)

n.

1. a small shiny disk used for ornamentation, as on clothing.

2. a former gold coin of Turkey and Italy.

[1575–85; < French sequin < Italian zecchino, derivative of zecc(a) mint (< Arabic sikkah die, coin)]

se′quined, adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

sequin - adornment consisting of a small piece of shiny material used to decorate clothing

diamante, spangle

adornment - a decoration of color or interest that is added to relieve plainness

sequin

noun

A small sparkling decoration:

glitter, spangle.

Translations

cequísequí

lustrino

цехин

sequin

[ˈsiːkwɪn] N → lentejuela f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

sequin

[ˈsiːkwɪn] n → sequin m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

sequin

n → Paillette f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

sequin

[ˈsiːkwɪn] n → paillette f inv, lustrino

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

Our father died, leaving us each a thousand sequins. With this sum we all three took up the same profession, and became merchants.

I examined my accounts, and found that I had doubled my capital--that is, that I now possessed two thousand sequins. I gave my brother half, saying: "Now, brother, you can forget your losses." He accepted them with joy, and we lived together as we had before.

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His companions were his sallow little Yankee secretary, whose name I really forget, but whom I met with Maguire at the Boxing Club, and a very grand person in a second skin of shimmering sequins.

The sallow secretary went first; the sequins glittered at his heels, and I must own that for one base moment I was on the brink of bolting through the street door.

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His ideas of music-hall costumes had never gone beyond short skirts, a swirl of lace, and glittering sequins; but Miss Antonia had expressed herself on that subject in no uncertain terms.

And the invocation was uttered in such a tone as to indicate a rooted antipathy to anything so commonplace, even if she had not added that sequins gave her the sick.

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English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double guineas and moidores and sequins, the pictures of all the kings of Europe for the last hundred years, strange Oriental pieces stamped with what looked like wisps of string or bits of spider's web, round pieces and square pieces, and pieces bored through the middle, as if to wear them round your neck--nearly every variety of money in the world must, I think, have found a place in that collection; and for number, I am sure they were like autumn leaves, so that my back ached with stooping and my fingers with sorting them out.

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Having been told by the Abyssins that we had carried all the gold out of Aethiopia, they searched us with great exactness, but found nothing except two chalices, and some relics of so little value that we redeemed them for six sequins. As I had given them my chalice upon their first demand, they did not search me, but gave us to understand that they expected to find something of greater value, which either we must have hidden or the Abyssins must have imposed on them.

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"Ah, a window!" exclaimed Signor Pastrini, -- "utterly impossible; there was only one left on the fifth floor of the Doria Palace, and that has been let to a Russian prince for twenty sequins a day."

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She was pale; her tresses, formerly so gracefully braided and spangled with sequins, hung in disorder; her lips were blue, her hollow eyes were terrible.

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The little Jew girl's got a new dress - black covered with sequins. It makes her look yellower than ever.

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You look as if you'd got a nice sister, somehow." She paused, picking at some sequins on her knees, and then, as if she had made up her mind, she started off, "Anyhow, I'm going to ask your advice.