Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The flag of the United States.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A nickname for the
national flag of theUnited States of America . - noun The national
anthem of the United States of America.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the national flag of the United States of America
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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To my mind, the Star-Spangled Banner is the best that can wave over it. "
Brave and Bold The Fortunes of Robert Rushton Horatio Alger 1865
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I've heard "Hail to the Chief," I've heard the Star-Spangled Banner, many of the songs that you know so well when it comes to these kind of big celebrations.
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Today, that Star-Spangled Banner, along with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, are on display just a short walk from here.
President And First Lady Honor The Star Spangled Banner ITY National Archives 1998
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Today, that Star-Spangled Banner, along with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of
State of the Union Address (1790-2001) United States. Presidents.
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Today, that Star-Spangled Banner, along with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, are on display just a short walk from here.
State of the Union Address William Jefferson Clinton
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We then sang the Star-Spangled Banner, all standing and facing the piano, but watching to see if Fraulein sang, which she did.
Bab: A Sub-Deb 1917
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We then sang the Star-Spangled Banner, all standing and facing the piano, but watching to see if Fraulein sang, which she did.
Bab: a Sub-Deb Mary Roberts Rinehart 1917
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Of songs, the Star-Spangled Banner, America, Marseillaise, and all moral and soul-stirring songs, but wishy-washy hymns are my detestation.
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Of songs, the Star-Spangled Banner, America, Marseillaise, and all moral and soul-stirring songs, but wishy-washy hymns are my detestation.
Varieties of Religious Experience, a Study in Human Nature William James 1876
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The Star-Spangled Banner is one the hardest songs to sing.
EW.com: Today's Latest Headlines Michael Slezak 2010
dinkum commented on the word Star-Spangled Banner
WORD: Star-Spangled Banner
DEFINITION:
(1) ' The national anthem of the United States, based on the poem, "Defence of Fort McHenry", written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, who witnessed the British Royal Navy's Chesapeake Bay bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The poem -- set to the tune of a popular British song, and renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner" -- soon became a well-known American patriotic song. With a range of one and a half octaves, it is known for being difficult to sing. Although the poem has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today. "The Star-Spangled Banner" was recognized for official use by the Navy in 1889, and by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301), which was signed by President Herbert Hoover. ' -- Wikipedia.
(2) According to Kurt Vonnegut, the American national anthem is "pure balderdash", "gibberish sprinkled with question marks". (Which still doesn't prevent me from waxing sentimental over "Old Spangles", but then again I remain fond of Waltzing Matilda -- once called "the unofficial national anthem of Australia" -- the jolly swagman's song now axed by the newly prim-and-proper Ozzies). -- Dinkum.
EXAMPLE:
' Trout and Hoover were citizens of the United States of America, a country which was called America for short. This was their national anthem, which was pure balderdash, like so much they were expected to take seriously:
' "O, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
thru the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched were so
gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs
bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our
flag was still there.
O, say does that star-spangled banner
yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home
of the brave?"
' There were one quadrillion nations in the Universe, but the nation Dwayne Hoover and Kilgore Trout belonged to was the only one with a national anthem which was gibberish sprinkled with question marks. '
-- From Kurt Vonnegut's 1973 novel "Breakfast of Champions -- Chapter 1 (pages 7 - 8).
1973 KURT VONNEGUT, JR. Breakfast of Champions, or, Goodbye Blue Monday.
August 29, 2013