ensign

Etymology

From Old French enseigne < Latin īnsignia, nominative plural of īnsigne. Doublet of insignia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛnsɪn/, IPA^(key): /ˈɛns(ə)n/ IPA^(key): /ˈɛnsaɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnsən

Noun

ensign (plural ensigns)

1. A badge of office, rank, or power.
   • Edmund Waller (1606-1687)

     The ensigns of our power about we bear.

2. The lowest grade of commissioned officer in the United States Navy, junior to a lieutenant junior grade.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 10, in The Celebrity:

     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.

3. A flag or banner carried by military units. See standard, color, colour.
   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still.

4. (nautical) The principal flag or banner flown by a ship to indicate nationality.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Plutarch, "Life of Alcibiades":

     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.

5. Any prominent flag or banner.
   • 1667?, John Milton, Paradise Lost

     Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced.

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

Verb

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

1. (obsolete) To designate as by an ensign.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Ben Jonson, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Henry but joined the roses that ensigned Particular families.

2. To distinguish by a mark or ornament
3. (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.

Anagrams

• engins, genins