clarion

adj

Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English clarion, clarioun (“trumpet with a narrow tube and a shrill sound, clarion; clarion player”) [and other forms], from Old French claron, clarïon (“clarion”) [and other forms], from Medieval Latin clāriōn, clario, clārōn (“clarion; trumpet”), from Latin clārus (“audible; clear, distinct, loud; (visually) bright, clear”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, summon; to cry”). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.

1. Of a sound, a voice, a message, etc.: brilliantly clear.

   “her clarion top notes”

   “And loud that clarion voice replied / Excelsior!”

name

1. An unincorporated community in Bureau County, Illinois, United States.
2. A city, the county seat of Wright County, Iowa, United States.
3. A borough, the county seat of Clarion County, Pennsylvania, United States.
4. A ghost town in Sanpete County, Utah, United States.
5. A river in Pennsylvania, a tributary of the Allegheny River.

noun

Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English clarion, clarioun (“trumpet with a narrow tube and a shrill sound, clarion; clarion player”) [and other forms], from Old French claron, clarïon (“clarion”) [and other forms], from Medieval Latin clāriōn, clario, clārōn (“clarion; trumpet”), from Latin clārus (“audible; clear, distinct, loud; (visually) bright, clear”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, summon; to cry”). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.

1. A medieval brass instrument chiefly used as a battle signal; related to the trumpet, it had a narrow, straight pipe and a high-pitched, piercing sound.

   “The clarion’s call to action has been heard.”

   “Then ſtrait commands that at the warlike ſound / Of Trumpets loud and Clarions be upreard / His mighty Standard; […]”

2. The sound of a clarion (sense 1), or any sound resembling the loud, high-pitched note of a clarion.

   “Others [i.e., other birds] on ground / Walk'd firm; the creſted Cock whoſe clarion ſounds / The ſilent hours, and th' other whoſe gay Traine / Adorns him, colour'd with the Florid hue / Of Rainbows and Starrie Eyes.”

   “And his this Drum, vvhoſe hoarſe heroic baſe / Drovvns the loud Clarion of the braying Aſs.”

3. An organ stop consisting of pipes with reeds giving a high-pitched note like that of a clarion (sense 1).
4. The middle register of the clarinet.
5. A charge thought to represent a type of wind instrument, a keyboard instrument like a spinet, or perhaps a rest used by a knight to support a lance during jousting.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English clariounen (“of a horn or trumpet: to blow, sound”), from clarioun (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitives of verbs). Later uses may also be derived directly from the noun.

1. To announce or herald (something) using a clarion (noun sense 1).
2. To announce or herald (something) using a clarion (noun sense 1).

   “His deep voice clarioned the words and he paused, hearing them whisper away into their last faint echoes in the organ loft.”

   “He [Martin Luther King Jr.] clarioned a call to action that was heard wherever Afro-Christians could be found (and beyond, if one recalls Pentecostalism).”

3. Of a thing: to cause (a place) to echo with a sound like that of a clarion.

   “Sir Knight, thy glory clarioneth the heavens.”

4. To sound a clarion; also, to make a high-pitched, piercing sound like that of a clarion.

   “[T]hou, young-bodied morn, / In-ushered by the puffed winds clarioning, / No bond can bind.”

   “We dogs are all a-mourning; but thou [a rooster] clappest thy wings and clarionest thy loudest and treadest hen after hen.”