hounskull

plural hounskulls · alternative houndskull

1. A type of visor, drawn out into a conical point like a muzzle or beak which improved ventilation and deflected blows, or a helmet having such a visor.

   Others showed signs of traumatic impact: a hounskull bascinet, split across the snout as if by an axe; a piece of chainmail, smashed breast to waist by a lance or a spiked mace.

   2017, RH Hale, Church Mouse: Memoir of a vampire's servant, Help For Writers Ltd, →ISBN

   4 more examples

   On the counter is a hounskull with aventail (a visored bascinet with mail tippet) with a small plume on the apex. A pair of bell-cuffed gauntlets and an arming sword hang outside.

   1933, Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity

   The big helmets that might have given many knights claustrophobia were gradually abolished for “hounskulls”, close-fitting steel caps with pointed visors that could be flicked open for easier breathing.

   1971, Helmut Nickel, Arms and Armour Through the Ages

   The most characteristic form of visor was the so-called “hounskull,” which featured a pointed snout that helped to deflect weapons, as well as giving the wearer an intimidating, bestial look; other visors had a rounded face.

   2009, Jeffrey L. Forgeng, Will McLean, Daily Life in Chaucer's England, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 171

   There were knights everywhere, all around him a chaos of ghastly pointed hounskulls, a kaleidoscope of crosses and coats of arms on shields, a hurricane of flashing swords, a maelstrom of horses' teeth, chests and hooves.

   2020, Andrzej Sapkowski, The Tower of Fools, Orbit, →ISBN