TIARA (tee-AHR-uh)
A
type of crown
Common
clues: Pageant crown; Coronet; Princess topper; Crownlet; Jeweled
headpiece; Royal headgear
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
4 times a year
Frequency
in English language:
41641 / 86800
News:
Rush
Limbaugh named Miss America pageant judge
Video:
Look
at my tiara
A
tiara
(from Persian tara
borrowed by Latin as
'tiara') is a form of crown. There are two possible types of
crown that this word can refer to.
Traditionally,
the word "tiara" refers to a high crown, often with the
shape of a cylinder narrowed at its top, made of fabric or
leather, and richly ornamented. It was used by the kings and
emperors of some ancient peoples in Mesopotamia. The Assyrians
used to include a pair of bull horns as a decoration and symbol
of authority and a circle of short feathers surrounding the
tiara's top. The Persian tiara was more similar to a truncated
cone, without the horns and feathers but more jewels, and a
conic-shaped tip at its top. In Catholicism, the Papal Tiara is a
high cap surrounded by three crowns and bearing a globe
surmounted by a cross worn by the Pope during certain ceremonies,
being the symbol of his authority. Since Pope Paul VI, set aside
his tiara after the Second Vatican Council, the Papal Tiara has
not been used. Pope Benedict XVI even removed the tiara from his
Coat of Arms, replacing it with a mitre.
In
modern times, however, a tiara is generally a semi-circular band,
often metal-made and decorated with jewels. It is worn by women
around their head or on the forehead. They are frequently used to
"crown" the winners of beauty pageants. The fictional
superheroine Wonder Woman is usually depicted wearing a tiara;
hers can be thrown as a weapon, as can that worn by the character
known as The Pope.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Tiara".
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