standard-bearer
1. An officer or soldier who bears the standard.
| c 1450 Brut 538 In his retenewe..v standart berers. 1538 in P. H. Hore Hist. Wexford (1900) I. 237 Watkyne and his followers did meth with Cahir M{supc}Artes Standarthe berrer. 1544 Betham Precepts War i. clxxv. H viij b, Plucke the standart from the standart bearer. 1611 Bible Isa. x. 18 They shall bee as when a standerd bearer fainteth. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxix. III. 129 As Mascezel advanced..he encountered one of the foremost standard-bearers of the Africans. 1879 Froude Cæsar xvii. 278 The standard⁓bearer..reached the fosse, flung the eagle over the rampart, [etc.]. |
b. As the title of an office of dignity. Hist.
| 1829 Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 3 Lord Fitzwalter, hereditary chastellain banneret or standard-bearer of London. 1837 Lockhart Scott I. ii. 71 A charter granted by Archibald Earl of Douglas..to Henry de Haliburton, whom he designates as his standard-bearer. |
c. One who carries a banner in a procession.
| 1495 Acc. in Sharp Cov. Myst. (1825) 196 Payd to the stondard-beyrres, & ffor poyntes xj d. 1844 tr. M. T. Asmar's Mem. Babyl. P'cess II. 72 Accompanied by standard-bearers, carrying banners of various colours. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Standard-bearer, an officer who carries a banner or colours in a procession. |
2. fig. Chiefly, a conspicuous advocate of a cause; one who is in the forefront of a political or religious party.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. 7 They that are bolder than other, and as it were standerd bearers to make any departyng from the Churche. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 543 Epicurus himselfe, the captaine and standard⁓bearer of all atheists and epicures. 1608 Topsell Serpents 65 Very seldome..they [male bees, drones] stir out of doores, as those whom nature had pointed out to be the fittest to be stander-bearers, and to carry ancients in the camp of Venus. 1611 Bible Cant. v. 10 My beloved is..the chiefest [marg., a standard-bearer] among ten thousand. 1710 M. Henry Christianity no Sect Wks. 1857 II. 449/1 Marvel not if the standard-bearers be most struck at. 1821 Scott Kenilw. vii, You, whom men call the standard-bearer of the true Protestant faith. 1900 G. C. Brodrick Mem. 408 As though I had any claim to be treated as a standard-bearer of the party. |
Hence ˈstandardbearership.
| 1865 J. M. Ludlow Pop. Epics II. 201 Aragon promises the standard-bearership of his kingdom to whosoever will take William. |