chevron

plural chevrons · alternative dated cheveron

1. A V-shaped pattern; used in architecture, and as an insignia of military or police rank, on the sleeve.
   1. governmentA wide inverted V placed on a shield.
   2. broadlyAnything V-shaped similarly to the classic chevron shape.

      Jejeune's canoe sent a chevron of silver ripples scurrying across the mirror-calm surface as it carved its path through the dark water.

      2019, Steve Burrows, A Dance of Cranes: A Birder Murder Mystery, Oneworld Publications

2. collectiveA group of birds in flight, when flying in a V formation, as in cranes, ducks, geese, gulls, pelicans and swans.

   A chevron of ducks flies high overhead.

   2025, Bill Arnott, A Perfect Day for a Walk: The History, Cultures, and Communities of Vancouver, on Foot, Arsenal Pulp Press

   4 more examples

   As I stood in amaze-ment, chevron after chevron after chevron of these massive birds crisscrossed the sky, practically blocking out the sun and creating an unparalleled cacophony of sight and sound.

   2013, Budd Titlow, Bird Brains, Globe Pequot, page 29

   And then we observed what caused us to rub our eyes wonderingly-a chevron of geese gliding directly for the tip of the point.

   1928 October, Kendrick Kimball, “Injun Summer Calms”, in Field and Stream, CBS Publications, page 82

   That was the first chevron of geese to pass this way.

   2007, Robert Fripp, Power of a Woman, Rosetta Solutions, page 169

   A chevron of seagulls passes overhead, wings perfectly still.

   2015, Phil Cousineau, The Book of Roads: Travel Stories from Michigan to Marrakech, Viva Editions

   Synonyms: wedge

3. UKOne of the V-shaped markings on the surface of roads used to indicate minimum distances between vehicles.

   2009, Jamie Dunn, Truckie has a point, Sunshine Coast Daily Online, June 13, 2009. I told you that in fact they were called chevrons and it was an exercise by the transport department to teach us to stay two chevrons behind the car in front.

4. A wedge-shaped sediment deposit observed on coastlines and continental interiors around the world.
5. Synonym of arrowhead (“horse jump obstacle”).

   Synonyms: arrowhead

6. Any of various symbols.
   1. A guillemet, either of the punctuation marks “«” or “»”, used in several languages to indicate passages of speech. Similar to typical quotation marks used in the English language such as ““” and “””.
   2. An angle bracket, either used as a typographic or a scientific symbol.
   3. informalA háček, a diacritical mark that may resemble an inverted circumflex.

      The symbol ř (“r” with a chevron) is used for a phoneme which sounds like Czech ř (as in Dvořák), i.e. a voiced alveolar flap. The presence of the chevron has no effect on the index numbers used in transliteration; cf. 2.058.

      1976, Stephen J. Lieberman, The Sumerian Loanwords in Old-Babylonian Akkadian (Harvard Semitic Studies, issue 22; published by Scholars Press for Harvard Semitic Museum), page 66

      1 more example

      It is pertinent to remember, however, that one of the greatest phoneticians, Jan Hus, used diacritics (in the form of points, which have later become chevrons in his own language), and that his alphabet is the most satisfactory for eastern Europe, since it has been officially adopted by the languages which use the Latin script.

      1953, William James Entwistle, Aspects of Language, Faber and Faber, page 107

present singular third person chevrons · participle present chevroning · participle past chevroned · past chevroned · alternative dated cheveron

1. To form or be formed into chevrons

   ...the sheet to be chevroned locks itself into the furrow.

   1963, Lucien Victor Gewiss, "Process and Devices for Chevroning Pliable Sheet Material," US Patent 3397261 http://www.google.com/patents?id=XflXAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA11-IA4, page 14

   3 more examples

   ... as a thick finger with a gob of very slippery jelly or cream comes sliding down the crack now towards his asshole, chevroning the hairs along like topo lines up a river valley...

   1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

   Bull fixed the claw under a batten, strained like a sailor at the capstan, shirt off, arms chevroned by elaborate tattoos.

   1983, Allen Sillitoe, The Lost Flying Boat, →ISBN, page 118

   Earlier, in glaring winter daylight, i'd first noticed thin lines chevroning off the edge of each eye into the taut skin of his cheeks...

   2003, Felice Picano, A House on the Ocean, a House on the Bay, →ISBN, page 55