Banner sb.¹

Forms: 3–5 baner(e, 5–6 banor, 6 bannar, 4– banner. [a. OF. banere, baniere (= Pr. banieira, bandieira, Sp. bandera, Pg. bandeira, It. bandiera), on L. type *bandāria, f. late L. bandum, bannum standard, ‘vexillum quod bandum appellant’ (Paul. Diac. c. 775), f. Goth. bandwa, bandwô ‘signum,’ sign, token, perh. from same root as band and bind. In Romanic confused with bannum BAN.]

  1.  prop. A piece of stout taffeta, or other cloth, attached by one side to the upper part of a long pole or staff, and used as the standard of an emperor, king, lord, or knight, under (or after) which he and his men marched to war, and which served as their rallying-point in battle; hence, that of a country, nation, army or company. Phrases: To join the banner of, follow the banner of. In the literal sense, now chiefly historical; in poetry and elevated prose, applied to the standard or flag of a country; common in figurative expressions.

  Heraldically, a banner means a square or quadrangular flag, displaying the arms of the person in whose honor it is borne, and varying in size from that of an emperor, six feet square, to that of a knight banneret, three feet square. In this sense we still commonly speak of the banners of the Knights of the Garter, in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.

a. 1230.  Ancr. R., 300. Schrift … is gunfaneur, & bereð her þe banere biuoren alle Godes ferde.

1297.  R. Glouc., 541. The burgeis … arerde tueie baners, & wende hom vorth iarmed.

c. 1340.  Cursor M. (Fairf.), 12913. As baner borne be-for þe king.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1552. in thy temple I wol my baner honge.

1574.  trans. Littleton’s Tenures, 33 b. To beare the kynges bannar.

1605.  Shaks., Macb., V. v. 1. Hang out our Banners on the outward walls, The Cry is still, they come.

1611.  Bible, Sol. Song vi. 4. Terrible as an armie with banners.

1769.  Junius Lett., xxxv. 163. To fight under the banners of their enemies.

1809.  J. Barlow, Columb., I. 2. I sing the Mariner who first unfurl’d An eastern banner o’er the western world.

a. 1842.  Macaulay, Armada. Our glorious semper eadem, the banner of our pride! The freshening breeze of eve unfurled that banner’s massy fold.

18[?].  Key, ’Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

1864.  Curtis, Sch. Hist. Eng., 121. A number joined the banner of a Scotch knight named Wallace.

1864.  Boutell, Heraldry Hist. & Pop., xviii. 288. Banners were in use in the middle ages at sea, as well as on land.

  b.  in fig. expressions referring to moral struggles.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., 1871, III. 308. Þe baner of Crist on þe croos.

1552.  Bapt. Infants, in Bk. Com. Prayer. Manfully to fight vnder his banner agaynste sinne, the world, and the deuil.

1847.  Yeowell, Anc. Brit. Ch., ii. 12. Planted the banner of the cross upon the ruins of heathenism.

  c.  in fig. reference to the protection symbolized by a national flag floating over a place.

c. 1400.  Maundev., xxv. 26. The Banere of Jesu Christ is alle weyes displayed … to the help of his trewe lovynge servauntes.

1564.  Haward, Eutrop., To Rdr. The boldlyer, under the banner of hys protectyon.

1722.  Sewel, Hist. Quakers (1795), I. IV. 272. Thy … banner was over my head.

  d.  (Attributed fig. to things.)

a. 1822.  B. Cornwall, Sicil. Story, Autumn, iv. Already have the elements unfurled Their banners.

a. 1859.  J. Percival, Eagle. Where wide the storms their banners fling.

  2.  An ensign or flag bearing some device, borne in a procession, religious, civic, or political, for purposes of symbolism or display. (Sometimes specifically restricted to an ensign other than an ordinary flag, e.g., one extended in a frame, one attached by its upper edge or supported by two staves, so as to remain open.)

  Of these the earliest were the religious banners, usually those of patron saints, which were often carried to battle, and there served as banners in sense 1. The banners of guilds and city companies, also partook of both characters.

c. 1305.  St. Edmund, 351, in E. E. P. (1862), 80. Þis holi man also Prechede a dai at Oxenford … In alle halewe church ȝerd: in þe norþ side Mid þe baners at vnderne.

1552–66.  [see BANNER-CLOTH below in 6].

1726.  Tindal, Rapin’s Engl. (1757), II. 207. A mast, on the top of which they placed a silver pix with a consecrated host, and the banners of St. Peter and St. John of Beverly, to serve as an ensign.

[1751.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v., The French retain the denomination banner, in speaking of ecclesiastical processions; where the people, having each a cross on, march under a banner, representing the church militant.]

c. 1850.  Longf., Excelsior. A banner with the strange device, Excelsior.

1856.  Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xvi. 191. A little Masonic banner hanging from a tent-pole.

1878.  C. Dickens, Dict. Lond., 154/1. [Lord Mayor’s Show] The streaming flags and banners give unwonted life and colour to the dingy scene.

  b.  fig. Anything displayed as a profession of principles.

1581.  Hanmer (title), The Jesuites Banner, Displaying their original and successe.

1611.  Bible, Ps. lx. 4. Thou hast giuen a banner to them that feare thee; that it may bee displayed.

1884.  Contemp. Rev., March, 325. Dynamite has become … the banner of the extreme revolutionary party.

  † 3.  transf. The company or ‘side’ ranged under a particular banner. Obs. exc. Hist.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron., 242. He went to play a wile with fo of his banere. Ibid., 306. Þei were euer in wehere … Whilk was best banere, with þat side forto hold.

1818.  J. Hobhouse, Hist. Illustr. (ed. 2), 543. The Count of Campania … has contrived that three banners of horse should leave his party by stealth.

  † 4.  = BANDEROLE 2 b. Obs. rare.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., IV. ii. 60. I will the Banner from a Trumpet take, And vse it for my haste.

  5.  Bot. The vexillum of a papilionaceous flower.

1794.  Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., iii. 35. A large petal, covering the others and occupying the upper part of the corolla … the standard or banner.

1880.  Gray, Bot. Text-bk., 398.

  6.  Comb., as banner-cloth, -pole, -rag, -staff; also banner-like, -shaped, -fashioned, adjs. Banner-bearer, standard-bearer, ensign; banner-cry, a cry summoning men to join a banner, a slogan; banner-screen, a fire-screen hung by its upper edge (cf. 2); bannerless a., without a banner; bannerwise adv., after the manner of a banner.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 23. Banyowre, or *bannerberere, Vexillarius.

1603–5.  Sir J. Melvil, Mem. (1735), 31. Eleven Banner-bearers went up to the Breach.

1847.  Nation. Cycl., II. 819. Distinguished persons were … attended by a banner-bearer.

1552.  Invent. Ch. Goods, in Norf. Archæol. (1865), VII. 52. Item twoo lenten *Banner clothes valued at viiij^s.

1566.  Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866), 33. Item iij banner clothes sold to Gilbert Grene one of the church wardens … who defacid theim.

1835.  Penny Cycl., III. 407. The *banner-cloth [of St. Cuthbert, at Durham] was a yard broad and five quarters deep … of red velvet, on both sides most sumptuously embroidered and wrought with flowers of green silk and gold.

1810.  Scott, Lady of L., VI. xvii. The *banner-cry of hell.

1631.  Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 847. The *Banner-fashioned Shield.

c. 1850.  J. H. Jesse, Last War of the Roses, III. v. (L.).

1566.  Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866), 110. Item, a crose, a stafe, and ij *banner pooles … defaced by the … churchwardens.

1880.  Browning, Dram. Idyls, Clive, 58. Sockets made for banner-poles.

1875.  B. Taylor, Faust, IV. ii. II. 249. The *banner-rags of standards flutter.

1566.  Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866), 65. Item, banners, *banner staves, and crosse staves.

1815.  Wordsw., Wh. Doe, VI. The *banner-staff was in his hand.

1864.  Soc. Sc. Rev., 8. Able to execute a *banner screen with any lady in the land.

1883.  E. O’Donovan, Merv Oasis, II. xliv. 224. A pole, bearing a piece of tattered linen floating *bannerwise at its extremity.