ENSIGN

ensign

(noun) colors flown by a ship to show its nationality

ensign

(noun) a person who holds a commissioned rank in the United States Navy or the United States Coast Guard; below lieutenant junior grade

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Proper noun

Ensign

A surname.

A hamlet in Alberta, Canada

A city in Kansas

(Mormonism) The official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Anagrams

• engins, genins

Etymology

Noun

ensign (plural ensigns)

A badge of office, rank, or power.

The lowest grade of commissioned officer in the United States Navy, junior to a lieutenant junior grade.

A flag or banner carried by military units; a standard or color/colour.

Synonym: ancient

(nautical) The principal flag or banner flown by a ship (usually at the stern) to indicate nationality.

Any prominent flag or banner.

(historical) A junior commissioned officer in the 18th and 19th centuries whose duty was to carry the unit's ensign.

Synonyms

• See 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

Verb

ensign (third-person singular simple present ensigns, present participle ensigning, simple past and past participle ensigned)

(obsolete) To designate as by an ensign.

To distinguish by a mark or ornament.

(heraldry) To distinguish by an ornament, especially by a crown.

Anagrams

• engins, genins

Source: Wiktionary


En"sign, n. Etym: [L. enseigne, L. insignia, pl. of insigne a distinctive mark, badge, flag; in + signum mark, sign. See Sign, and cf. Insignia, 3d Ancient.]

1. A flag; a banner; a standard; esp., the national flag, or a banner indicating nationality, carried by a ship or a body of soldiers; -- as distinguished from flags indicating divisions of the army, rank of naval officers, or private signals, and the like. Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still. Shak.

2. A signal displayed like a standard, to give notice. He will lift an ensign to the nations from far. Is. v. 26.

3. Sign; badge of office, rank, or power; symbol. The ensigns of our power about we bear. Waller.

4. (a) Formerly, a commissioned officer of the army who carried the ensign or flag of a company or regiment. (b) A commissioned officer of the lowest grade in the navy, corresponding to the grade of second lieutenant in the army. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

Note: In the British army the rank of ensign was abolished in 1871. In the United States army the rank is not recognized; the regimental flags being carried by a sergeant called the color sergeant. Ensign bearer, one who carries a flag; an ensign.

En"sign, v. t.

1. To designate as by an ensign. [Obs.] Henry but joined the roses that ensigned Particular families. B. Jonson.

2. To distinguish by a mark or ornament; esp. (Her.), by a crown; thus, any charge which has a crown immediately above or upon it, is said to be ensigned.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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