displayed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of display.

   The museum displayed the artifacts behind reinforced glass.

   His credentials were proudly displayed in the lobby.

   Note

   A regular -ed form that does double duty. The same spelling serves the simple past (the museum displayed the artifacts) and the participle after have or be (had displayed, was displayed). It carries every use of the verb, including deploying a column of troops into line and the printer's use behind the typesetting adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   Spread open to be seen, or shown off prominently to others.

   Like wares laid out on a market stall to attract buyers.

   The displayed manuscripts drew scholars from across the country.

   The crown jewels remained displayed under heavy guard throughout the exhibition.

   Similarpresented

   Oppositehidden, concealed

3. 3
   adjective

   Spread out to its full extent; unfurled.

   Like a sail let out to its full width before the wind.

   The displayed banner stretched the length of the stadium.

   With sails displayed, the ship made swift progress before the wind.

   Similaroutspread, extended, unrolled

   Oppositefolded

   Note

   The adjective keeps alive a meaning the verb has lost. Display once meant simply to spread out or unfurl, a use now obsolete for the verb. William Golding's The Inheritors (1955) writes of the displayed roots of the beeches, roots splayed across a forest trail and shown to no one. Read it as "spread", not "exhibited".

4. 4
   adjective

   Depicted with the wings spread open, as a bird on a coat of arms.

   The displayed eagle dominated the family's coat of arms.

   Heralds painted the falcon displayed, each feather distinct against the gold field.

   Similaroutspread

   Oppositeclosed, folded

   Note

   Heralds use it as a term of blazon, the formal language in which coats of arms are described. Like most heraldic adjectives, it usually follows its noun: an eagle displayed, a falcon displayed. The posture is the eagle's classic one, facing the viewer with talons outstretched, as on the imperial eagle of many European arms. It narrows the general "unfurled" sense to a single heraldic attitude.

5. 5
   adjective

   Set with prominent type spaced through the text to catch the reader's eye.

   The displayed announcement ran across three columns in bold type.

   Editors set the notice displayed to draw the eye away from the dense columns.

   Similarprominent, featured

   Note

   A compositor's term for a page that breaks up its text with lines of larger or bolder type, as in advertisements, notices and headings. The contrast is with running matter set in one uniform body type. The verb behind it, meaning to make something conspicuous with prominent type, is now dated, and the adjective belongs to the same professional vocabulary.

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