oriflamme
Americannoun
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the red banner of St. Denis, near Paris, carried before the early kings of France as a military ensign.
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any ensign, banner, or standard, especially one that serves as a rallying point or symbol.
noun
Etymology
Origin of oriflamme
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English oriflam, oriflamble, from Middle French, Old French oriflamme, oriflambe, equivalent to orie “golden” (from Latin aurea, feminine of aureus, derivative of aurum “gold”) + flamme; see origin at flame
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.
His white hands and fuzzy platinum hair gleaming like an oriflamme, he led the youths through a spirited charge on Bach.
From Time Magazine Archive
It also provides Author Steen with one of her most stunning sentences: "On the poop of the Rembwe, Macpherson's beard burnt like an oriflamme."
From Time Magazine Archive
Speaking before the Detroit Economic Club, Mr. Crawford rarely mentioned the Association's oriflamme of "free private enterprise" without interpolating the word "competitive" in lieu of "private."
From Time Magazine Archive
Before San Francisco's famed Commonwealth Club, where the late President Roosevelt first raised the oriflamme of the New Deal, the Ford Co.'s 28-year-old president went back to old principles.
From Time Magazine Archive
How it pressed forward an oriflamme of joy, through all ranks and peoples; how the world rang with the wonder of it!
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.
