banderole

American  

[ban-duh-rohl] / ˈbæn dəˌroʊl /

Also banderol,

noun

1. a small flag or streamer fastened to a lance, masthead, etc.

2. a narrow scroll, usually bearing an inscription.

3. (especially in Renaissance architecture) a sculptured band, as on a building, adapted to receive an inscription.

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banderole British  

/ ˈbændəˌrəʊl /

noun

1. a long narrow flag, usually with forked ends, esp one attached to the masthead of a ship; pennant

2. a square flag draped over a tomb or carried at a funeral

3. a ribbon-like scroll or sculptured band bearing an inscription, found esp in Renaissance architecture

4. a streamer on a knight's lance

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Etymology

Origin of banderole

1555–65; < Middle French < Italian banderuola, equivalent to bandier ( a ) banner + -uola < Latin -e- or -i- + -ola -ole ²

Explanation

The long, skinny flag or banner that flies from the mast of a ship is called a banderole. Banderole comes from the Italian word banderuola, or "little banner." That's just what these elongated flags look like, banners with forked ends that flutter off the mast of an old sailing ship or a medieval knight's lance. In architecture, a banderole is also a representation of a streamer or scroll that's engraved with text — this kind of banderole is usually carved from stone.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

banderole

"God and our Lady of Blacherne," they shouted, and continued shouting while he was in sight, notwithstanding he did not so much as shake the banderole on his lance in reply.

From The Prince of India — Volume 02 by Lewis Wallace

Then the son of Isfendiar, recognizing the banderole, and not yet done with chafing over his former defeat, pushed through the throng about Mahommed, and prayed: "O my Lord, suffer me to punish yon braggart."

From The Prince of India — Volume 02 by Lewis Wallace

Carry it to your master, the Lord Mahommed, and say to him, Ugo, Count Corti, salute him, and prays him to look at the banderole, and fix it in his memory.

From The Prince of India — Volume 02 by Lewis Wallace

Corti made the passage safely, and in the road beyond the moat halted, and drove the staff of his banderole firmly in the ground.

From The Prince of India — Volume 02 by Lewis Wallace

Before his time, the soldiers merely wore a banderole over their steel breast-plates and ordinary dresses.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 373, November 1846 by Various