‖ fasces, n. pl.
(ˈfæsiːz)
[L. fascēs (sing. fascis bundle) in same sense.]
1. A bundle of rods bound up with an axe in the middle and its blade projecting. These rods were carried by lictors before the superior magistrates at Rome as an emblem of their power.
| 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. i. iii. (1622) 5 The fasces or knitch of rods. 1713 Swift The Faggot, In history we never found The consuls' fasces were unbound. 1879 Froude Cæsar xxiii. 401 The consular fasces, the emblem of the hated Roman authority. |
b. Her. As a badge.
| 1889 Elvin Dict. Her. s.v. Fascis, The Fasces are now frequently given to those who have held magisterial offices. |
2. transf. and fig. a. The ensigns of authority or power, esp. in to take, lay down, resign the fasces, hence also, authority.
| 1619 Beaum. & Fl. Valentinian v. v, He must take the fasces. 1666 Dryden Ann. Mirab. 199 The Duke..shook aloft the Fasces of the Main. 1673–95 Wood Life (1848) 184 The sen{supr}. proctor..laid down the fasces of his authority. 1797 Burke Let. Affairs Irel. Wks. 1812 V. *321 You must submit your fasces to theirs. 1792 S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. i. 292 Diocletian's self-corrected mind The imperial fasces of a world resigned. 1827 Macaulay Machiav. Ess. (1854) 49/2 He pines for..the fasces of Brutus. |
† b. The punishments threatened by the fasces; flogging or beheading. Obs.
| 1641 R. Brooke Eng. Episc. ii. vii. 109 That Tragedy, whose Epilogue was Flame and Fagot, or at least the Fasces to younger men. |
c. humorously. The birch rod.
| 1762 Foote Orator i. Wks. 1799 I. 197 The fescues and fasces..have been..consigned to one, or more matron in every village. |