Forms: 4 coronale, corounal, cornel(l, 4–7 coronall, 5 corenalle, coronell, cornal(le, 5–6 coronalle, 5–9 coronel, 6–7 curnall, 7 cronall, -el, 4– coronal. [app. repr. an AngloFr. *coronal, *corounal, f. coroune crown. Not known in continental Fr. In 5 prob. directly ad. L. corōnālis.]
I. 1. A circlet for the head; esp. one of gold or gems, connoting rank or dignity; a coronet.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 11236. And in hure chaumbre vpon a pal Þey corouned hure wyþ a coronal.
1388. Wyclif, Judith xvi. 10. Sche … boond togidere the tressis of hir heeris with a coronal [Vulg. mitra, 1611 v. 8 tyre, marg. or miter].
a. 1440. Sir Degrev., 642. Hyr here was hyȝthtyd on hold With a coronal of gold.
1494. Househ. Ord., 128. The imposition of the cappe of estate & coronell is for the creation of the Prince.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 833/2. On hir head a coronall all of greet pearles.
1640. Habington, Q. Arragon, II. i. in Hazl., Dodsley, XIII. 345. Souls Whom courtiers’ gaudy outside captivates And plume of coronel.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., VII. vi. His son shall … wear the coronal of a duke.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., I. I. 20. On his head a coronel he had.
† b. A circlet of gold round a helmet. Cf. CIRCLE 10 b. Obs.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 297. Hys gorgette, with hys cornell tho, Hys necke he brak there atwo.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace, 10042. An helm he had on his hed … A riche corounal wiþ perre, al of brent golde.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 908. The creste and þe coronalle.
1829. Scott, Anne of G., iii. The golden garland, or coronal twisted around it [a helmet] … indicated noble birth and rank.
c. transf. and fig.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, I. ii. 14. The sooty coronal of the wick also fell with the shock.
1843. Prescott, Mexico, I. v. (1864), 43. Clustering pyramids of flowers, towering above their dark coronals of leaves.
1883. Ld. R. Gower, My Remin., I. iii. 37. This royal hill is suitably crowned by a coronal of old stone pines.
2. A wreath of flowers or leaves for the head; a garland.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Feb. My flowres … That bene the honor of your Coronall.
1610. Fletcher, Faithf. Sheph., I. i. No more shall these smooth brows be girt With youthful coronals, and lead the dance.
a. 1766. W. Thompson, Hymn to May, 295. Your may-pole deck with flow’ry coronal.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, VIII. iii. Wearing on her head a coronal of white roses.
1860. T. Martin, Horace, 147. Twine for them Of rosemary a simple coronal.
b. transf.
1849. Rock, Ch. of Fathers, II. 102, note. The coronel of strawberry leaves … round the brow of the archiepiscopal mitre.
1883. Truth, 31 May, 768/1. [A bonnet] with a coronal, under the brim, of soft pink crushed roses.
† 3. The head of a spear or lance, esp. of a tilting lance, ending in three or four short spreading points. (Often cronall, cronel, curnall.) Obs.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 6219. Kyng Richard leet dyght hym a schafft … And … Leete sette theron a corounal kene.
c. 1330. Syr Degarre, 568. His schaft was strong, and god with al And wel scharped the coronal.
1460. Lybeaus Disc., 929. Breng a schaft that nell naght breke, A schaft wyth a cornall.
a. 1470. Tiptoft, in Segar, Hon. Mil. & Civ., III. li. (1602), 188. Whoso meeteth cronall to cronall shall haue a prize … He that striketh Curnall to Curnall two times.
[1860. Fairholt, Costume, 426. Coronel, the upper part of a jousting-lance, constructed to unhorse, but not to wound, a knight.]
† 4. The capital of a column. Obs. rare.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 3665. Of fyne gold a foure hundreth postis, With crafti coronals … coruen of þe same.
II. † 5. Anat. The frontal bone: cf. next 2 a.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 108. Þe firste boon is clepid þe boon of þe forheed or ellis coronale. Ibid., 109 (MS. B). Þese tweye bonys beþ y-clepyde Nerualia by cause of þe ffigure of the seme þat ys wiþ þe coronale.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg. The fyrst bone of the fore parte is called Coronall.
1758. J. S., Le Dran’s Observ. Surg. (1771), 75. The Piece of Bone that was deficient in the Coronal.
