pendent

Etymology

From Middle English pendaunt, Anglo-Norman pendaunt, pendant, respelled to reflect Latin pendēns, pendentis, present participle of pendere (“to hang, to be suspended”). Compare pendant, which retained the spelling.

adj

1. Dangling, drooping, hanging down or suspended.
   The doctor's head … was framed in the golden semi-circle of a wig with long pendent curls that touched his shoulders […] 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 71
   An interesting development has been the analysis of the image of a pendent drop by a video digitizer. 1986, Bryant W Rossiter, Roger C Baetzold, Investigations of Surfaces and Interfaces
2. Pending (in various senses).
3. (architecture, of a structure) Either hanging in some sense, or constructed of multiple elements such as the voussoirs of an arch or the pendentives of a dome, none of which can stand on its own, but which in combination are stable.
4. (heraldry) Hanging or pointed downward; (of a crescent) with its horns pointing downward.
   Jandrell, Sa. three buckles, the tongues pendent ar. two and a one. 1780, Joseph Edmondson, A Complete Body of Heraldry
   Az. a chev. or, betw. three acorns, pendent, Kymberlee. 1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica, Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry: Dictionary of Heraldry, page 89
   JAUDRILL. Ermines, three round buckles ar. tongues pendent. 1844, John Burke, Bernard Burke, Encyclopædia of Heraldry, page 49
   page 207: de CAMPO REAL: chequy Sable and Argent on a chief Gules a crescent pendent of the field. 1981, Bruno Bernhard Heim, Armorial Bruno Bernard Heim, Colin Smythe
5. (grammar, of a sentence) Incomplete in some sense, such as lacking a finite verb.
6. (obsolete) Projecting over something; overhanging.

noun

1. Alternative spelling of pendant