gonfalon
Americannoun
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a banner suspended from a crossbar, often with several streamers or tails.
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a standard, especially one used by the medieval Italian republics.
noun
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a banner hanging from a crossbar, used esp by certain medieval Italian republics or in ecclesiastical processions
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a battle flag suspended crosswise on a staff, usually having a serrated edge to give the appearance of streamers
Etymology
Origin of gonfalon
1585–95; < Italian gonfalone < Middle French gonfalon, gonfanon < Germanic; see gonfanon
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The shirt was a gonfalon of the future.
From Time Magazine Archive
The fountain shone, the displayed Graces jetted their crystal store; from every window hung carpets, on every tower a gonfalon, from every church belfry came the riot of bells.
From Little Novels of Italy by Maurice Henry Hewlett
Now, be it noted, that a stuffed dead duck had become the gonfalon or banner of the Republicans, and where it swung there the battle was fiercest.
From Memoirs by Charles Godfrey Leland
The gonfalon might flutter, and the knight, with all his train, ride stately amidst the white range of tents; the archer might lean upon his bow and gaze upon the splendour of the host.
From William Shakespeare as he lived. An Historical Tale by Henry Curling
That next the royal gonfalon, which stirred By fluttering wind, is borne towards the mount, Which on green field, three pinions of a bird Bears agent, speaks Sir Richard, Warwick's count.
From Orlando Furioso by William Stewart Rose
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.
