oriflamme

American  

[awr-uh-flam, or-] / ˈɔr əˌflæm, ˈɒr- /

noun

1. the red banner of St. Denis, near Paris, carried before the early kings of France as a military ensign.

2. any ensign, banner, or standard, especially one that serves as a rallying point or symbol.

---

oriflamme British  

/ ˈɒrɪˌflæm /

noun

1. a scarlet flag, originally of the abbey of St Denis in N France, adopted as the national banner of France in the Middle Ages

---

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

As London topers know, these lines are the doggerel oriflamme of that immemorial public house, "Finch's in the Strand."

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

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

"I am sure that, whenever France shall unfurl her oriflamme, Burgundy and Champagne will fight side by side beneath its folds."

From Barbarossa; An Historical Novel of the XII Century. by Bolanden, Conrad von