Stănd'ard1, n.
n. [A-S. standard, D. standaard, M. H. Ger. stanthart, N. H. Ger. standarte, O. Fr. estendard, N. Fr. étendard, Pr. estendart, estandart, Sp. estandarte, It. stendardo, from Lat. extendere, Pr. & O. Fr. estendre, Fr. étendre, It. stendere, to spread out, extend.]
Sense 1. An ensign of war; a staff with a flag or colors; a banner.
His armies, in the following day, On those fair plains their standards proud display. Fairfax.
Sense 2. That which is established by authority as a rule or measure of quantity, as a pound, gallon, or weight; hence, the original weight or measure sanctioned by government.
Sense 3. That which is established as a rule or model, by respectable authority, by custom, or general consent; criterion.
A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman. Burke.
Sense 4. (Coinage.) The proportion of weight of fine metal and alloy established by authority.
By the present standard of the coinage, sixty-two shillings is coined out of one pound weight of silver. Arbuthnot.
Sense 5. A standing tree or stem; a tree not supported or attached to a wall.
Plant fruit of all sorts and standard, mural, or shrubs which lose their leaf. Evelyn.
Sense 6. A tree not dwarfed by grafting upon a stock of a smaller species.
Sense 7. (Carp.) An upright support, as the poles of a scaffold; any upright in framing.
Sense 8. (Ship-building.) An inverted knee placed upon the deck instead of beneath it, with its vertical branch turned upward from that which lies horizontally.
Sense 9. (Bot.) The upper petal or banner of a papilionaceous corol.
