The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bezant \Be*zant"\, n. [See Byzant.]
A gold coin of Byzantium or Constantinople, varying in weight and value, usually (those current in England) between a sovereign and a half sovereign. There were also white or silver bezants. [Written also besant, byzant, etc.]
(Her.) A circle in or, i. e., gold, representing the gold coin called bezant.
--Burke.A decoration of a flat surface, as of a band or belt, representing circular disks lapping one upon another.
Wiktionary
n. (alternative form of bezant English)
Wikipedia
Besant may refer to:
- Besant (surname)
- Besant, Saskatchewan
- Besant Nagar, area of Chennai
Besant is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
- Annie Besant (1847–1933), Theosophist
- Derek Michael Besant (born 1950), artist
- Walter Besant (1836–1901), novelist and historian
- W. H. Besant (1828–1917), mathematician
Usage examples of "besant".
Born in 1895 in Andhra Pradesh, India, Jiddu Krishnamurti had been found as a teenager by members of the Theosophical Society and adopted by a lady named Annie Besant.
Antoninus and Aurelius, Ferdinand and Isabella, the De Goncourt brothers, Besant and Rice, Gilbert and Sullivan, Swan and Edgar leap to the memory.
I will say it, who am said by Sir Walter Besant to be the only American who hates their nation.
Besants d'or and such heraldic moneys are not currency in a mercantile republic.