▪ I. badge, n.
(ˈbædʒ)
Forms: 4–7 bage, 5–7 bagge, 7 badg, 5– badge.
[First in ME.: also in 15th c. Anglo-Lat. bagia, bagea, from the vernacular word. Also OF. bage: a single instance in Godefroy, of date 1465. Of unknown origin. See conjectures in Mätzner, Wedgwood, Müller, Skeat.]
1. A distinctive device, emblem, or mark, used originally to identify a knight or distinguish his followers (= cognizance in Her.), and now worn as a sign of office or licensed employment, as a token of membership in some society, etc., etc.
| c 1350 Alexander (St.) 4180 [The fire] tinds on tend lowe trappour of stede..Bages and baners it blemyschid. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 20/2 Bage, or bagge of armys, Banidium. ? c 1450 MS. Lincoln A i. 17 lf. 141 (Halliw.) He beris of golde a semely sighte, His bagges are sabylle ylkane. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. (1868) 8 Came to the lystes with their badges and tokens. 1530 Palsgr., Badge of a gentylman—la deuise dung seignevr. 1513–75 Diurn. Occurr. (1833) 158 My lord regentis armes and bage. 1618 Rowlands Sacr. Mem. 50 The Crosse, which Christians for their badge do weare. 1678 Trans. Crt. Spain 131 To wear a badg that they may beg alms. 1800 Colquhoun Comm. Thames xi. 328 They have their names and numbers on a metal Badge. 1879 Dixon Windsor II. xv. 161 She tore the Lancastrian badges from her clothes. |
2. gen. A distinguishing ‘sign,’ emblem, token, or symbol of any kind: a. transf. of things material.
| 1526 Tindale Acts xxviii. 11 Whose badge was Castor and Pollux. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 113 The Liuer white, and pale; which is the Badge of Pusillanimitie, and Cowardize. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4140/4 The Badges or Marks put on Houses Insured by the Friendly Society. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. I. 62 A brazier of live coals carried before him as a badge of his office. 1872 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 104 The fortresses, the special badges of foreign rule. |
b. fig. of things immaterial.
| 1529 More Supplic. Soules Wks. 314/1 The deuils badge..y⊇ badge we meane of malice & of a very deadli deuilish hate. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 111 For suffrance is the badge of all our Tribe. 1719 W. Wood Surv. Trade 295 Monopolies, the Badges of a slavish People. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. §6. 237 The degrees have become social badges. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. vii. 167 The possession of land has become the badge of freedom. |
3. Naval Arch. (See quot.)
| 1769 in Falconer Dict. Marine. c 1850 Rudim. Nav. (Weale) 94 Badge, a sort of ornament fixed on the quarters of small vessels near the stern, containing either a sash for the convenience of the cabin, or the representation of it. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., Quarter badges, false quarter-galleries in imitation of frigate-built ships. |
4. Comb., as badge-ticket; badge-man, one who wears a badge, a licensed beggar or almsman; also, spec. an official porter.
| 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 352 No man ever..will glory in belonging to the Chequer No. 71, or to any other badge-ticket. 1804 W. Cooke Mem. Charles Macklin 11 After being some time in Dublin, he got settled as a badge-man in Trinity College. 1809 Crabbe Tales 16 With thickset coat of Badge-man's blue. 1904 Daily Chron. 30 July 7/7 They deprive the licensed porters, or ‘badge’ men..of work. |
▪ II. badge, v.1
(bædʒ)
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To mark with, or distinguish by, a badge.
| 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. (1871) III. 60 Þus þei ben baggid wiþ signes of ipocrysie. 1599 [see badged]. 1737 Swift Wks. (1761) III. 336 Badging the original poor of every parish, who begged in the streets. 1880 Daily Tel. 28 Oct., A hyæna..numbered and badged by the Local Board of Works. |
▪ III. † badge, v.2 Obs.
Also in 6 bagge.
[Origin unknown; app. the source of badger n.1 (though it may have been a back-formation from that word taken as an agent-noun). Fuller derived it from L. bājulāre to carry (as if a cant contraction baj., cf. the modern zoo., cab., etc.), but evidence is required before this can be admitted for the 15th c.]
To deal as a badger; to hawk for sale; to buy up (provisions) for the purpose of selling again elsewhere; hence, to regrate.
| 1552 Bp. Hooper in Strype Cranmer App. 135 The Statute of Regrators is so usid, that in many quarters of these partes it wil do little good: and in some parts, where as licence by the Justices wil not be grauntyd, the people are mouche offendid, that they shuld not, as wel as other, bagge as they were wount to do. [Cf. badger 1, quot. 1552.] 1605 J. Davies Humour's Heav. on E. (1876) 37 Some others followed her [i.e. Fortune] by badging land. 1611 in North Riding Rec. (1884) I. 240 Marm. Foxton of Brompton [presented] for badging of butter. 1700 R. Gough Hist. Myddle 115 His imployment was buying corne in one markett towne and selling it in another, which is called badgeing. 1729–72 Jacob Law Dict., Kidder..one that badges, or carries corn, dead victual, or other merchandize up and down to sell. |
▪ IV. badge v.3
variant of bag v.2