▪ I. banner, n.1
(ˈbænə(r))
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. a. 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 honour 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.
| c 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. 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1552 In thy temple I wol my baner honge. 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 33 b, To beare the kynges bannar. 1605 Shakes. 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 J. 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 Mandeville 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. |
e. A flag awarded as a distinction. (See
quot. 1840 and
cf. 6 b.)
U.S.| 1840 Log Cabin (N.Y.) 5 Dec. 2/3 It is known that the Ladies of New Orleans early in the late contest offered a splendid Banner to the State which should give the largest relative majority for Harrison and Tyler in its popular vote for Presidential Electors. 1900 Century Mag. LIX. 636/1 Local authorities..united in the belief that..Ashtabula County might be accorded the banner. |
2. a. 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 Longfellow 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. Mar. 325 Dynamite has become..the banner of the extreme revolutionary party. |
c. A headline in large type,
esp. one running across a whole page in a newspaper. Also
attrib.,
esp. banner headline.
orig. U.S.| 1913 W. G. Bleyer Newsp. Writing & Editing xi. 305 Important news may be given as a head of one, two, or three parts extending across the whole front page. Such a head is often called a ‘banner’. 1915 G. M. Hyde Newspaper Editing i. v. 167 Banner headlines have undergone a strange evolution. They were invented to assist in street sales by advertising the news. 1952 V. Gollancz My Dear Timothy xx. 275 The Daily Herald came out with a huge banner headline, in letters half an inch high, on its opening page. 1957 Listener 1 Aug. 165/1 A five-column streamer in looming Gothic, followed by a banner line in some sort of spidery italic. 1965 Ibid. 9 Sept. 374/2 There is no longer a morning newspaper bravely bearing the name of Manchester on its banner-head. |
3. † a. transf. The company or ‘side’ ranged under a particular banner.
Obs. exc. Hist.| 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. C. Hobhouse Hist. Illustr. (ed. 2) 543 The Count of Campania..has contrived that three banners of horse should leave his party by stealth. |
b. (
a) Each of the eight divisions, with distinguishing flags or banners, into which the Manchu army was divided. (
b) A military subdivision of Mongolian tribes.
Cf. bannerman 2.
| 1842 K. S. Mackenzie Narr. Second Campaign in China ix. 140 The army is divided into eight divisions, distinguished by the colour of their respective flag; the yellow or Imperial..being the highest, next the white banner, red and blue banners. 1848 S. W. Williams Middle Kingd. I. vii. 333 The Manchu army..was assisted by Mongols and Chinese, the three nations were divided into eight corps or ‘banners’. 1880 J. Ross Manchus xvi. 610 Up till 1613 the Manchus were divided into four banners—yellow, red, blue and white; but they had become so large an army, that for efficiency in manoeuvring they were sub-divided into as many more—bordered yellow, bordered red, bordered blue, and bordered white. Ibid. 611 In 1635, the Mongols were separated from the Manchu banners, under eight banners of their own. 1894 New Review Nov. 528 The Banner troops received donations from the Emperor. |
† 4. = banderole 2 b.
Obs. rare.
| 1599 Shakes. 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. a. Comb., as
banner-flying,
banner-cloth,
banner-pole,
banner-rag,
banner-staff,
banner-towing (in aerial advertising); also
banner-like,
banner-shaped,
banner-fashioned,
adjs. banner-bearer, standard-bearer, ensign;
banner cloud, a cloud that streams outwards from the lee side of a mountain peak;
banner-cry, a cry summoning men to join a banner, a slogan;
banner headline (see sense 2 c);
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 viiijs. 1566 Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 33 Item iij banner clothes sold to Gilbert Grene one of the churchwardens..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. |
| 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Banner-cloud. 1957 Meteorol. Gloss. (Air Ministry) (ed. 3) 32 The Helm Cloud over Crossfell Range, the Table Cloth over Table Mountain..are..well-known examples of banner cloud. |
| 1810 Scott Lady of L. vi. xvii, The *banner-cry of hell. |
| 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 847 The *Banner-fashioned Shield. |
| 1930 Flight 7 Feb. 195/1 Another profitable use to which N.A.L. have been putting their machines is *banner-flying. |
| c 1850 J. Jesse Last of Roses III. 5 (L.) Your heir Rides forth alone, and *bannerless. |
| 1566 Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 110 Item, a crose, a stafe, and ij *banner pooles..defaced by the..churchwardens. 1880 Browning Dram. Idylls, 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. 84 Able to execute a *banner screen with any lady in the land. |
| 1960 Guardian 29 Dec. 3/1 The rates for *banner-towing are between {pstlg}25 and {pstlg}30 an hour. |
| 1884 O'Donovan Merv xx. 221 A piece of tattered linen, floating *bannerwise at its extremity. |
b. attrib. or quasi-adj. Entitled to a banner as a distinction (
orig. in
banner state,
banner county); hence, pre-eminent, supreme.
U.S.| 1840 Niles' Reg. 5 Dec. 210/1 Which is the Banner State?—The Whigs..proposed to designate whichever state should give the Harrison ticket the largest majority, as the banner state. Ibid., The banner county. Designation is claimed by Worcester, Massachusetts. 1843 Knickerbocker XXII. 431 He who was for many years the banner-veteran of our worthies. 1886 Harper's Mag. June 78/2 The Magnolia Plantation..which claims to be one of the banner plantations of the State. 1887 Ibid. July 237/2 She had the banner crop of tobacco in that county last year. 1903 N.Y. Even. Post 21 Sept., The earnings of all Vanderbilt lines had a banner month in August. 1911 S. E. White Bobby Orde (1916) x. 128 On his banner day he brought down two fox-squirrels. 1931 G. T. Clark Leland Stanford x. 361 That was the farm's banner year, for at the close of the season it held world trotting records for yearlings..and stallions. 1967 Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. iii. 3/2 Next season will be a banner year for the browns, reports the American Wool Council. |
▪ II. banner, n.2 (
ˈbænə(r))
[f. ban v. + -er1.] One who bans or curses.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 22 Bannare or cursere, Imprecator. 1483 Cath. Angl. 20 Banner, deuotator. 1548 Cranmer Catech. 23 Deuylish swerers, banners and cursers. 1627 Guide Agst. Witches ii. ii. 95 Bitter banners and cursers. |
▪ III. ˈbanner, v. [f. banner n.1] 1. To furnish with a banner, decorate with banners.
| 1809 J. Barlow Columb. v. 269 High bannering bright the air. 1870 Daily News 10 Oct., The city..is thickly bannered. 1874 Holland Mistr. Manse ii. 119 Who with silken parasol, Bannered the army that she led. |
† 2. intr. To raise a banner or standard (
against).
| 1588 J. Harvey Discours. Probl. 46 That the Turk should adventure, or dare to banner, against them who, etc. |
3. trans. To announce in a banner headline (see
banner n.1 2 c).
| 1951 Manch. Guardian Weekly 15 Mar. 10/4 It prominently reported what the Miami ‘Daily News’ had bannered the night before. 1959 D. Beaty Cone of Silence xix. 209 The name of the aircraft that for years they strove to perfect has been bannered across the papers of the world with the most tragic connotations. |