Lozenge

A pullover with a lozenge pattern

A lozenge is a parallelogram which usually has two corners pointing up and down that are farther apart than the corners pointing sideways. It is often used in parquetry and as decoration on ceramics, silverware, and textiles.

Use in camouflage

During the First World War, the Germans were looking for a way to effectively camouflage their aircraft. This resulted in the development of the so-called lozenge pattern, made up of irregular painted polygons. Because painting such a pattern was very time consuming, and the paint added considerably to the weight of the aircraft, it was decided to print the pattern on a fabric. This pre-printed fabric was used from 1916 onwards, in various forms and colours, like the one pictured below.

Use in heraldry

A lozengy field, in the arms of the former urban district council of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire

The lozenge in heraldry is a diamond-shaped charge (an object that can be placed on the field of the shield), usually somewhat narrower than it is tall. It is to be distinguished in modern heraldry from the fusil, which is like the lozenge but narrower, though the distinction has not always been as fine and is not always observed even today. A mascle is a voided lozenge-- that is, a lozenge with a lozenge-shaped hole in the middle-- and the rarer rustre is a lozenge containing a circular hole. A field covered in a pattern of lozenges is described as lozengy; a similar field of mascles is masculy.

In modern English and Scottish, but not Canadian, heraldry, the arms of an unmarried woman are usually shown on a lozenge rather than an escutcheon, without crest or helm; a cartouche is occasionally also used. Married women also have the option of using their husband's arms on an escutcheon, using a small lozenge as with a brisure; divorced women may theoretically until remarriage use their ex-husband's arms differenced with a mascle.

The lozenge shape is also used for funereal hatchments for both men and women.

Cough tablets

A lozenge is also a tablet which you can suck when you have a cough or sore throat. Lozenges contain medicine that helps to reduce the pain or irritation. The name for such a tablet (first used in 1530, according to the SOED) derives from its being originally lozenge-shaped. Today one of the most popular brand names is Fisherman's Friend, produced in Lancashire, England since the 19th century.