Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The bearer of a gonfalon.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The bearer of a gonfalon; a chief standard-bearer.
  • noun In the middle ages, the title of the chief magistrate of Florence and other Italian republics, elected by the people.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An officer at Rome who bears the standard of the Church.
  • noun The chief magistrate of any one of several republics in mediæveal Italy.
  • noun A Turkish general, and standard keeper.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun one who bears the gonfalon
  • noun an official, particularly a chief magistrate of a mediaeval Italian republic; the bearer of the republic's gonfalon

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Italian gonfaloniere, from gonfalone, gonfalon; see gonfalon.]

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Examples

  • She had addressed it to Piero Soderini, the gonfalonier or leader, of the Republic of Florence.

    The Dragon’s Trail Joanna Pitman 2006

  • She had addressed it to Piero Soderini, the gonfalonier or leader, of the Republic of Florence.

    The Dragon’s Trail Joanna Pitman 2006

  • She had addressed it to Piero Soderini, the gonfalonier or leader, of the Republic of Florence.

    The Dragon’s Trail Joanna Pitman 2006

  • She had addressed it to Piero Soderini, the gonfalonier or leader, of the Republic of Florence.

    The Dragon’s Trail Joanna Pitman 2006

  • He also ordered, that as it had been customary for the gonfalonier to sit upon the right hand of the rectors, he should in future take his seat in the midst of them.

    The History of Florence 2003

  • The archbishop being with the gonfalonier, under pretense of having something to communicate on the part of the pope, addressed him in such an incoherent and hesitating manner, that the gonfalonier at once suspected him, and rushing out of the chamber to call assistance, found Jacopo di

    The History of Florence 2003

  • Salvestro de 'Medici, gonfalonier, ended the admonitions, which were the basis of the Guelf terrorism, and a violent revolt of the ciompi (the poorest workmen) broke out.

    3. Florence 2001

  • The various quarters of Rome organized a parade in which were thirteen floats led by the gonfalonier of the city and the magistrates, which passed from the Piazza Navona to the Vatican, accompanied by the strains of music.

    Lucretia Borgia According to Original Documents and Correspondence of Her Day Ferdinand Gregorovius

  • Belonging to an old patrician family, he devoted himself, like thousands of his class in Italy, to commerce, swelled his already substantial fortune, and rose to a position of great prominence and influence among his fellow-citizens, who on several occasions elected him gonfalonier.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 8: Infamy-Lapparent 1840-1916 1913

  • His son Giacomo he appointed castellan of St. Angelo and gonfalonier of the Church, but refused him every higher dignity, although Venice enrolled him among its nobili and the King of Spain appointed him general of his army.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913

Comments

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  • One wielding a gonfalon. In mediaeval Florence, one of the highest offices in the city was the Gonfalonier of Justice, which I think is just the coolest title ever.

    August 14, 2008

  • The slatternly woman ran her guns out and returned the broadside with promptitude.

    "Door, indeed! you poor whey-faced drab, you dare to say the word door to me, a respectable woman, as Mister Tripes here knows me well, and have a score against me behind that there wery door as you disgraces, and as it's you as ought to be t'other side, you ought; for it's out of the streets as you come, well I knows, an' say another word, and I'll take that there bonnet off of your head, and chuck it into them streets and you arter it. O dear! O dear! that ever I should be spoke to like this here, and my master out o' work a month come Toosday, and this here gentleman standing by! But I'll set my mark on ye, if I get six months for it--I will!"

    Thus speaking, or rather screaming, and brandishing her baby, as the gonfalonier waves his gonfalon, the slatternly woman, swelling into a fury for the nonce, made a dive at Dorothea, which, but for the interposition of "this here gentleman," as she called the coalheaver, might have produced considerable mischief. That good man, however, took a deal of "weathering," as sailors say, and ere either of the combatants could get round his bulky person, the presence of a policeman at the door warned them that ordeal by battle had better be deferred till a more fitting opportunity. They burst into tears, therefore, simultaneously, and the dispute ended, as such disputes often do, in a general reconciliation, cemented by the consumption of much excisable fluid, some of it at the expense of the philanthropic coalheaver, whose simple faith involved a persuasion that the closest connection must always be preserved between good-fellowship and beer.

    After these potations, it is not surprising that the slatternly woman should have found herself, baby and all, under the care of the civil power at a police-station, or that Gentleman Jim and his ladye-love should have adjourned to sober themselves in the steaming gallery of a playhouse.

    G.J. Whyte-Melville, M. or N., Similia similibus curantur. Suggested by Wordnik as a citation for this word and turns out to be quite interesting, for a little while at least. As I quite enjoy Victorian novels this one might go on my reading list.

    October 9, 2009

  • "with promptitude" is almost a caricature of awful writing.

    October 9, 2009