ensign
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See also: Ensign
English
Etymology
From Middle English ensigne, from Old French enseigne, from Latin īnsignia, nominative plural of īnsigne, meaning marked, distinguished. Doublet of insignia.
Pronunciation
Noun
ensign (plural ensigns)
- A badge of office, rank, or power.
- 1690, Edmund Waller, The Maid’s Tragedy, Alter’d by Mr Waller, page 8:
- The Ensigns of our Power about we bear; / And every Land pays Tribute to the Fair.
- The lowest grade of commissioned officer in the United States Navy, junior to a lieutenant junior grade.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.
- A flag or banner carried by military units; a standard or color/colour.
- Synonym: ancient
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still,
- (nautical) The principal flag or banner flown by a ship (usually at the stern) to indicate nationality.
- 1960 [a. 120], Ian Scott-Kilvert, “Life of Alcibiades”, in The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives, translation of original by Plutarch:
- But Alcibiades swiftly ran up the Athenian ensign on his flagship and bore down on that part of the Peloponnesian fleet which held the advantage and was pursuing the Athenians.
- Any prominent flag or banner.
- 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the book number)”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:
- Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced.
- (historical) A junior commissioned officer in the 18th and 19th centuries whose duty was to carry the unit's ensign.
Synonyms
- See Thesaurus:badge
(junior commissioned officer):
- coronet (cavalry equivalent of the infantry ensign)
- second lieutenant (OF-1), first NATO commissioned officer grade above OF-0 trainee officer
Derived terms
Translations
military officer
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banner
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Verb
ensign (third-person singular simple present ensigns, present participle ensigning, simple past and past participle ensigned)
- (obsolete) To designate as by an ensign.
- 1610, Ben Jonson, The Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers:
- HENRY but ioyn’d the Roses, that ensign’d / Particular families, but this hath ioyn’d / The Rose and Thistle,
- To distinguish by a mark or ornament.
- (heraldry) To distinguish by an ornament, especially by a crown.
- Any charge which has a crown immediately above or upon it, is said to be ensigned.