oriflamme
See also: Oriflamme
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French oriflambe, oriflamme, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value ML. is not valid. See WT:LOL. auriflamma (“golden flame”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin aurum (“gold”) + flamma (“flame”).
Pronunciation
Noun
oriflamme (plural oriflammes)
- (history) The red silk banner of St Denis, which the abbot of St Denis gave to French kings as they rode to war.
- 1988, Robert Irwin, The Mysteries of Algiers, Dedalus 1993, p. 58:
- The white banner with the golden lilies of France has been unfurled. The oriflamme has been presented to the virginal bride who stands before the altar in the forest chapel.
- 1988, Robert Irwin, The Mysteries of Algiers, Dedalus 1993, p. 58:
- (figuratively) Any banner, idea or principle which serves as a rallying point for those involved in a struggle.
- Macaulay
- And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre.
- 1963, Anthony Burgess, Inside Mr Enderby:
- Please remember that the vocabulary of our readers isn’t very extensive, so don’t go using words like ‘oriflamme’ or ‘inelectable’.
- Macaulay
- (literary) Something resembling the banner of St Denis; a bright, shining object.
- 1837 Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History
- This is that famed Martial law, with its Red Flag, its 'Drapeau Rouge:' in virtue of which Mayor Bailly, or any Mayor, has but henceforth to hang out that new Oriflamme of his; then to read or mumble something about the King's peace; and, after certain pauses, serve any undispersing Assemblage with musket-shot....
- 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 96:
- Lucette trotted into the room with a child's pink, stiff-bagged butterfly-net in her little fist, like an oriflamme.
- 1992, Moncrieff/Kilmartin/Enright, translating Marcel Proust, Swann's Way, Folio Society 2005, p. 417:
- Open spaces made visible the approach to almost every one of them, or else a splendid mass of foliage stood out before it like an oriflamme.
- 1837 Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History
Translations
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
French
Etymology
(deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value ML. is not valid. See WT:LOL. auriflamma (“golden flame”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin aurum (“gold”) + flamma (“flame”).
Pronunciation
Noun
oriflamme f (plural oriflammes)
Further reading
- “oriflamme”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:History
- English literary terms
- en:Flags
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 3-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns
- French terms with historical senses