Definitions

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

  • noun A decorated barbed dart that is thrust into the bull's neck or shoulder muscles by a banderillero in a bullfight.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A small dartlike javelin ornamented with a banderole, used in bull-fights to goad and infuriate the bull.

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

  • noun A barbed dart carrying a banderole which the banderillero thrusts into the neck or shoulder of the bull in a bullfight.

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

  • noun bullfighting A stick with a sharp end and a decorated end, which a bullfighter stick into the bull's back.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a decorated dart that is implanted in the neck or shoulders of the bull during a bull fight

Etymologies

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

[Spanish, diminutive of bandera, banner, from Vulgar Latin *bandāria; see banner.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish banderilla equivalent to Spanish bander ("banner") + -illa

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Examples

  • Sometimes firecrackers are ingeniously inserted, which go off when the banderilla is deftly fastened in the beast's quivering flesh.

    Six Months in Mexico 1888

  • Ask for a "banderilla," a small skewer of spicy, pickled veggies

    CNN.com 2010

  • Ask for a "banderilla," a small skewer of spicy, pickled veggies.

    chicagotribune.com - 2010

  • Ask for a "banderilla," a small skewer of spicy, pickled veggies

    CNN.com 2010

  • But William Brownfield is a smart guy and he was not going to waste an opportunity to put banderilla in the wounded Venezuelan bull.

    Great Moments in Diplomacy: ambassadors with a message 2005

  • But William Brownfield is a smart guy and he was not going to waste an opportunity to put banderilla in the wounded Venezuelan bull.

    11/13/2005 - 11/20/2005 2005

  • The important thing is to thrust the banderilla into her - forgive the bullfighting image - to see where the bull will lead us or, should I say, the young heifer.

    The Shadow of the Wind Zafon, Carlos Ruiz 2001

  • Spain, was brilliant with the cape, fine with the banderilla and poetic with the muleta.

    Mexico Michener, James 1992

  • Cloaks were tossed to attendants, each footman received a red cape, the two _picadores_ took position one on either side of the bull pen gate, the band struck up a tune, the gate was opened and a great Utreran bull bounded into the arena, maddened with the pain of a short _banderilla_, with long streaming ribbons, stuck in his neck as he entered, by an attendant perched above the gate.

    The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier Edgar Beecher Bronson

  • And so he awaited the charge until the bull was within actual arm's-reach, when with a swift rise from the chair and a turn of his body quick as that of a fencer's supple wrist, he bent and stuck the teeth-held banderilla in the bull's shoulder as he swept past.

    The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier Edgar Beecher Bronson

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