noun
- a badge consisting of stripes meeting at an angle, worn on the sleeve by noncommissioned officers, police officers, etc., as an indication of rank, service, or the like.
- an ornament in this form, as on a molding.
- Also called chevron weave. herringbone(def 2a).
- Heraldry. an ordinary in the form of an inverted V.
noun
- military a badge or insignia consisting of one or more V-shaped stripes to indicate a noncommissioned rank or length of service
- heraldry an inverted V-shaped charge on a shield, one of the earliest ordinaries found in English arms
- (usually plural) a pattern of horizontal black and white V-shapes on a road sign indicating a sharp bend
- any V-shaped pattern or device
- Also called: dancette an ornamental moulding having a zigzag pattern
late 14c., from Old French chevron “rafter; chevron” (13c.), the accent mark so called because it looks like rafters of a shallow roof, from Vulgar Latin *caprione, from Latin caper “goat” (see cab); the hypothetical connection between goats and rafters being the animal’s angular hind legs. Cf. Latin capreolus “props, stays, short pieces of timber for support,” lit. “wild goat, chamoix.”