Category:Banner

Ban"ner, n. Etym: [OE. banere, OF. baniere, F. bannière, bandière, fr. LL. baniera, banderia, fr. bandum banner, fr. OHG. bant band, strip of cloth; cf. bindan to bind, Goth. bandwa, bandwo, a sign. See Band, n.]

1. A kind of flag attached to a spear or pike by a crosspiece, and used by a chief as his standard in battle. Hang out our banners on the outward walls. Shak.

2. A large piece of silk or other cloth, with a device or motto, extended on a crosspiece, and borne in a procession, or suspended in some conspicuous place.

3. Any flag or standard; as, the star-spangled banner. Banner fish (Zoöl.), a large fish of the genus Histiophorus, of the Swordfish family, having a broad bannerlike dorsal fin; the sailfish. One species (H. Americanus) inhabits the North Atlantic.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Banner - (1.) The flag or banner of the larger kind, serving for three tribes marching together. These standards, of which there were four, were worked with embroidery and beautifully ornamented (Numbers 1:52; Numbers 2:2 - 2:3, Numbers 2:10, Numbers 2:18, Numbers 2:25; Song of Songs 2:4; Song of Songs 6:4, Song of Songs 6:10). (2.) The flag borne by each separate tribe, of a smaller form. Probably it bore on it the name of the tribe to which it belonged, or some distinguishing device (Numbers 2:2, Numbers 2:34). (3.) A lofty signal-flag, not carried about, but stationary. It was usually erected on a mountain or other lofty place. As soon as it was seen the war-trumpets were blown (Psalms 60:4; Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 13:2; Isaiah 18:3; Isaiah 30:17; Jeremiah 4:6, Jeremiah 4:21; Ezekiel 27:7). (4.) A "sign of fire" (Jeremiah 6:1) was sometimes used as a signal. The banners and ensigns of the Roman army had idolatrous images upon them, and hence they are called the "abomination of desolation" (q.v.). The principal Roman standard, however, was an eagle. (See Matthew 24:28; Luke 17:37, where the Jewish nation is compared to a dead body, which the eagles gather together to devour.) God's setting up or giving a banner (Psalms 20:5; Psalms 60:4; Song of Songs 2:4) imports his presence and protection and aid extended to his people.