Saxon

Saxon, saks′un, n. one of the people of North Germany who conquered England in the 5th and 6th centuries: the language of the Saxons: one of the English race: a native or inhabitant of Saxony in its later German sense: a Lowlander of Scotland: modern English.—adj. pertaining to the Saxons, their language, country, or architecture.—n. Sax′ondom, the Anglo-Saxon world.—adj. Saxon′ic.—v.t. Sax′onise, to impregnate with Saxon ideas.—ns. Sax′onism, a Saxon idiom; Sax′onist, a Saxon scholar.—Saxon architecture, a style of building in England before the Norman Conquest, marked by the peculiar 'long and short' work of the quoins, the projecting fillets running up the face of the walls and interlacing like woodwork, and the baluster-like shafts between the openings of the upper windows resembling the turned woodwork of the period; Saxon blue, a deep liquid blue used in dyeing; Saxon green, a green colour; Saxon shore (Litus Saxonicum), in Roman times, the coast districts of Britain from Brighton northwards to the Wash, peculiarly exposed to the attacks of the Saxons from across the North Sea, and therefore placed under the authority of a special officer, the 'Count of the Saxon Shore.' [A.S. Seaxe—seax, Old High Ger. sahs, a knife, a short sword.]