Meanings
plural jambeaus · plural jambeaux · alternative giambeu
- historicalin pluralA piece of armour for the leg (especially below the knee), a greave.First known use 14th–16th c.
After all, a knight is not a knight without his jambeaus and sollerets, […]
2010, Harold Bloom, Ray Bradbury, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 274 more examples
The mortall steele despiteously entayld / Deepe in their flesh, quite through the yron walles, / That a large purple streme adown their giambeux falles.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vi[He suspected] a chink in his hinder jambeau, for there was a trickling at the back of his leg, although he felt no pain.
1984, Julian May, The Nonborn King ; The Adversary, page 200Jambeaus and sollerets hung loose from his shaky ankles. Cuisses and brassards were bashed as by countless bludgeons. Under a shirt of chain mail, the man's chest was caved in and panting.
2001, J. Robert King, Mad Merlin, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 39A cuish, knee piece, and jambeau protected their legs. All the armor was hammered out to favor scales […]
2011, Thomas Everill, Chamber of the Dragon's Soul: Awakenings, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 80 - Any of the spikefishes of the genus Parahollardia.
Spotted spikefishes and jambeaus are diamond shaped, about as long as they are high, with the greatest depth occurring at the tips of the stout first dorsal and anal spines, near the midbody. The small caudal fin is broadly rounded.
2016, David B. Snyder, George H. Burgess, Marine Fishes of Florida, Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM, →ISBN
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA piece of armour for the leg (especially below the knee), a greave.
More synonyms by meaning
nounarmor plate that protects legs below the knee
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchjambiere
- Old Frenchjambe“leg”
- Anglo-Norman[Term?]
- Middle Englishiambeau
- Englishjambeau
From Middle English iambeau(s) (compare jamber), from an Anglo-Norman [Term?] derivative of Old French jambe (“leg”): compare Old French jambiere. See jamb (noun). Compare lamboy(s).
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
jambeau. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jambeau
“jambeau.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jambeau. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jambeau,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jambeau.
Source: jambeau on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.