Margent is a vertical arrangement of flowers, leaves or hanging vines used as a decorative ornament

Ornament (architecture)

In architecture and decorative art, ornament is a decoration used to embellish parts of a building or object. Large figurative elements such as monumental sculpture and their equivalents in decorative art are excluded from the term; most ornament does not include human figures, and if present they...

 in architecture and furniture design in the 17th and 18th century. This motif

Motif (art)

In art, a motif is an element of a pattern, an image or part of one, or a theme. A motif may be repeated in a design or composition, often many times, or may just occur once in a work. A motif may be an element in the iconography of a particular subject or type of subject that is seen in other...

 was developed as a complement to other decorative ornaments, hanging as "drops" at the ends of a festoon

Festoon

Festoon , a wreath or garland, and so in architecture a conventional arrangement of flowers, foliage or fruit bound together and suspended by ribbons, either from a decorated knot, or held in the mouths of lions, or suspended across the back of bulls heads as...

 or swag

Festoon

Festoon , a wreath or garland, and so in architecture a conventional arrangement of flowers, foliage or fruit bound together and suspended by ribbons, either from a decorated knot, or held in the mouths of lions, or suspended across the back of bulls heads as...

. Also used to accentuate the vertical lines of window frames and centered in ornamental panel

Frame and panel

Frame and panel construction is a woodworking technique often used in the making of doors, wainscoting, and other decorative features for cabinets, furniture, and homes...

s.

Margent is an Old English word meaning "margin", a border or edge; especially handwriting on the edges of a printed book (or marginalia

Marginalia

Marginalia are scribbles, comments, and illuminations in the margins of a book.- Biblical manuscripts :Biblical manuscripts have liturgical notes at the margin, for liturgical use. Numbers of texts' divisions are given at the margin...

). Related to the word "marches

Marches

A march or mark refers to a border region similar to a frontier, such as the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales. During the Frankish Carolingian Dynasty, the word spread throughout Europe....

", the area between two regions.

Shakespeare uses the word in Act II, Scene I of A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...

:

These are the forgeries of jealousy

And never, since the middle summer's spring,

Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead,

By paved fountain or by rushy brook,

Or in the beached margent of the sea,

To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,

But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.

—Titania, the queen of the fairies

Fairy

A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...

Beached Margent of the Sea is also the name of a painting by Canadian artist, F.M. Bell-Smith

Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith

Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith was a Canadian landscape painter best known for his works of the Rocky Mountains and the Selkirk Range....

(1846–1923).