Helmet
(Redirected from Combat helmet)
... the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt
—Shakespeare, Henry V
A helmet or helm is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protective function are sometimes worn. Soldiers wear combat helmets, designed specifically to protect the head during combat.
A
[edit]- The great house is all agleam with bronze. War has bedecked the whole roof with bright helmets, from which hang waving horse-hair plumes to make adornment for the heads of men.
- Alcaeus, quoted in Athenaeus, xiv. 627a, on music. Translated by J. M. Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, vol. 1 (1923) p. 333
- Then Sohrab with his sword smote Rustum’s helm,
Nor clove its steel quite through; but all the crest
He shore away, and that proud horsehair plume
Never till now defil’d, sunk to the dust.- Matthew Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum (1853)
- They had their heads armed with a Morion, upon which they had hornes graven, or the representations of birds, or some foure footed beast, which was the cause that Caesars ninth Legion consisting of Gaules was called Alouette or Larke, for that on the head peeces of the souldiers of this Legion, there were Larkes graven, or else the crests. Or else it was so named as some thinke, for that the souldiers used Morions made like the crest of a Larke.
- Pierre d'Avity, translated by Edward Grimstone, The Estates, Empires, & Principallities of the World (London, 1615) p. 61
B
[edit]- Pitifully—under
a great soldier’s helmet,
a cricket sings- Basho, "Narrow Road to the Interior", quoted in Arun Shourie, Preparing: For Death (2020)
H
[edit]- The billmen and pikemen wore salades and morions. Steel caps were made to the shape of the head and sometimes called scull-caps; a woollen cap was worn within.
- John Harland, The Lancashire Lieutenancy under the Tudors and Stuarts (1859) p. 36, note [1]
P
[edit]- His Helmet now, shall make a hive for Bees.
- George Peele or Henry Lee of Ditchley, "A Farewell to Arms" (1590)
S
[edit]- Grabbing a short capstan bar, he fetched me such a clip on top of my brain-bucket as to drive all my senses clear down into my boots.
- Frederick W. Saunders, "A Yarn in the Long Boat", in The Flag of Our Union, vol. 11, no. 32 (9 August 1856) p. 255, col. 4
- Many a time, but for a sallet, my brainpan had been cleft with a brown bill.
- William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2 (1591) act 3, sc. 3 (Cade)
- The very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt.- William Shakespeare, Henry V (c. 1599) act 1, prol. (Chorus)
