a coarse, open fabric of worsted or cotton for flags, signals, etc.
patriotic and festive decorations made from such cloth, or from paper, usually in the form of draperies, wide streamers, etc., in the colors of the national flag.
flags, especially a vessel's flags, collectively.
a coarse, loosely woven cotton fabric used for flags, etc
decorative flags, pennants, and streamers
flags collectively, esp those of a boat
First recorded in 1735–45; origin uncertain; perhaps originally “cloth for sifting,” hence the verb bunt “to sift,” from Middle English bonten + -ing 1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English bunting, bounting, buntyle; further origin unknown
First recorded in 1920–25; special use of bunting 1
Bunting is a type of loosely woven fabric with a specific purpose: making flags. When you salute a flag, you're saluting bunting. Who knew? Bunting is known for two main features: it is loosely woven, and it is used primarily in making flags. Bunting is strong enough to last, but versatile enough to be perfect in making the intricate designs many flags feature. Before it becomes a flag, bunting makes for splendid decoration when hung or draped festively. Bunting is also a synonym for flag.
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The sun's come out, the Queen is not dead, and a strange effect henceforth known as the Buntings has taken over the nation: or at least the parts of the nation Radio 4 reaches.
From The Guardian • May 26, 2012
Into the fold on Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, stole a rowdydow team from Carnegie Tech, rocked Rockne's unbeaten Baby Buntings asleep, 19 to 0.
From Time Magazine Archive
To Bethany, there was always something special about the Buntings.
From Time Magazine Archive
Weekends the Buntings wheezed off in their Model A Ford pickup truck to camp out on the mountaintop.
From Time Magazine Archive
All the Buntings and Mabel were aghast, simply aghast.
From The Sea Lady by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
