# ensign
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English ensigne, from Old French enseigne, from Latin īnsignia, nominative plural of īnsigne, meaning marked, distinguished. Doublet of insignia.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɛn.sɪn/, IPA: /ˈɛn.sən/, [ˈɛn.sn̩] IPA: /ˈɛn.saɪn/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛnsən

### Noun

ensign (plural ensigns)
* A badge of office, rank, or power.
** 1690, Edmund Waller, The Maid’s Tragedy, Alter’d by Mr Waller‎, page 8:The Ensigns of our Power about we bear; / And every Land pays Tribute to the Fair.
* The lowest grade of commissioned officer in the United States Navy, junior to a lieutenant junior grade.
** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.
* A flag or banner carried by military units; a standard or color/colour.
    Synonym: ancient
** 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still,
* (nautical) The principal flag or banner flown by a ship (usually at the stern) to indicate nationality.
** 1960 [a. 120], Ian Scott-Kilvert, “Life of Alcibiades”, in The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives, translation of original by Plutarch:But Alcibiades swiftly ran up the Athenian ensign on his flagship and bore down on that part of the Peloponnesian fleet which held the advantage and was pursuing the Athenians.
* Any prominent flag or banner.
** 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced.
* (historical) A junior commissioned officer in the 18th and 19th centuries whose duty was to carry the unit's ensign.

#### Synonyms

* See Thesaurus:badge
(junior commissioned officer):
* coronet (cavalry equivalent of the infantry ensign)
* second lieutenant (OF-1), first NATO commissioned officer grade above OF-0 trainee officer

#### Derived terms

* civil ensign
* ensigncy
* ensign first class
* ensign fly
* ensignhood
* ensign scale
* ensignship
* merchant ensign
* red ensign
* revenue ensign

#### Translations
### Verb

ensign (third-person singular simple present ensigns, present participle ensigning, simple past and past participle ensigned)
* (obsolete) To designate as by an ensign.
** 1610, Ben Jonson, The Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers‎:HENRY but ioyn’d the Roses, that ensign’d / Particular families, but this hath ioyn’d / The Rose and Thistle,
* To distinguish by a mark or ornament.
* (heraldry) To distinguish by an ornament, especially by a crown.
    Any charge which has a crown immediately above or upon it, is said to be ensigned.

### Anagrams

* engins, genins, Singen