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An officer who bore an ax and fasces or rods, as ensigns of his office. His duty was to attend the chief magistrates when they appeared in public, to clear the way, and cause due respect to be paid to them, also to apprehend and punish criminals. Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power. Milton.…

Hence: A staff borne by, or carried before, a magistrate as an ensign of his authority. "Swayed the royal mace." Wordsworth.

l; -- usually called captain. Also, a commissioned officer in the navy ranking next above ensign and below lieutenant; formerly, an officer on a man-of-war who had immediate charge, under the commander, of sailing the vessel.

line of promotion, being graduates of the Naval Academy awaiting promotion to the rank of ensign.

The world; a globe as an ensign of royalty. [R.] A. Drummond. Le beau monde Etym: [F.], fashionable society. See Beau monde. -- Demi monde. See Demimonde.

order. They are in equal order to their several ends. Jer. Taylor. Various orders various ensigns bear. Granville. Which, to his order of mind, must have seemed little short of crime. Hawthorne.

A standard or ensign, in battle. "A handkerchief like an oriflamb." Longfellow. And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre. Macaulay.

A flag, colors, ensign, or banner.

ssed assistant paymasters, and assistant paymasters, having relative rank from captain to ensign, respectively.

An ensign or badge of royalty. [Obs.]

oss gules upon a field argent, the field being represented by a narrow fimbriation in the ensign, or union jack, of Great Britain. -- Saint George's ensign, a red cross on a white field with a union jack in the upper corner next the mast. It is the distinguishing badge of ships of the royal navy of England; -- called…

To display; to spread. [Obs.] "Our ensigns splayed." Gascoigne.

A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office; as, a constable's staff. Methought this staff, mine office badge in court, Was broke in twain. Shak. All his officers brake their staves; but at their return new staves were delivered unto them. Hayward.

A flag; colors; a banner; especially, a national or other ensign. His armies, in the following day, On those fair plains their standards proud display. Fairfax.

Spangled or studded with stars. Star-spangled banner, the popular name for the national ensign of the United States. F. S. Key.

An ensign, flag, or pennant, which floats in the wind; specifically, a long, narrow, ribbonlike flag. Brave Rupert from afar appears, Whose waving streamers the glad general knows. Dryden.

To lower; to let or take down; to remove; as, to strike sail; to strike a flag or an ensign, as in token of surrender; to strike a yard or a topmast in a gale; to strike a tent; to strike the centering of an arch.

to rags; -- used chiefly in the past participle as an adjective. Where waved the tattered ensigns of Ragfair. Pope.

An imperial ensign consisting of a golden globe with a cross on it.

ttle worth; to hold in mean estimation; to despise. In comparison of it I undervalued all ensigns of authority. Atterbury. I write not this with the least intention to undervalue the other parts of poetry. Dryden.