EMBLEM • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Emblem

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/ˈɛmbləm/ Listen

noun

Emblem n.

1.

Inlay; inlaid or mosaic work; something ornamental inserted in a surface. (Obs.)

2.

A visible sign of an idea; an object, or the figure of an object, symbolizing and suggesting another object, or an idea, by natural aptness or by association; a figurative representation; a typical designation; a symbol; as, a balance is an emblem of justice; a scepter, the emblem of sovereignty or power; a circle, the emblem of eternity. "His cicatrice, an emblem of war, here on his sinister cheek."

3.

A picture accompanied with a motto, a set of verse, or the like, intended as a moral lesson or meditation. Note: Writers and artists of the 17th century gave much attention and study to the composition of such emblems, and many collections of them were published.

Synonyms: Sign; symbol; type; device; signal; token. Sign, Emblem, Symbol, Type. Sign is the generic word comprehending all significant representations. An emblem is a visible object representing another by a natural suggestion of characteristic qualities, or an habitual and recognized association; as, a circle, having no apparent beginning or end, is an emblem of eternity; a particular flag is the emblem of the country or ship which has adopted it for a sign and with which it is habitually associated. Between emblem and symbol the distinction is slight, and often one may be substituted for the other without impropriety. See Symbol. Thus, a circle is either an emblem or a symbol of eternity; a scepter, either an emblem or a symbol of authority; a lamb, either an emblem or a symbol of meekness. "An emblem is always of something simple; a symbol may be of something complex, as of a transaction... In consequence we do not speak of actions emblematic." A type is a representative example, or model, exhibiting the qualities common to all individuals of the class to which it belongs; as, the Monitor is a type of a class of war vessels.

verb

Emblem v. t. (past & past part. emblemed; pres. part. embleming) To represent by an emblem; to symbolize. (R.) "Emblemed by the cozening fig tree."

See images of 'Emblem'

Etymology of 'Emblem'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Emblem" Quotes from Famous Books

... thrilled with political excitement, and it vibrated with rhetorical resolutions which seemed to Ibsen very empty. He had a constitutional horror of purely theoretical questions, and these were occupying Norway from one end to the other. The King's veto, the consular difficulty, the Swedish emblem in the national flag, these were the subjects of frenzied discussion, and in none of these did Ibsen take any sort of pleasure. He was not politically far-sighted, it must be confessed, nor did he guess what practical proportions these "theoretical questions" ...

— Henrik Ibsen • Edmund Gosse

... facts which he gathered were all tinged with the semi-mythical fancies of the earliest explorers of the secrets of nature. In an old relic, recalling 'the drums and tramplings of three conquests,' in a queer annual, or an ancient fragment of history might be the appropriate emblem, or something more than the emblem of a truth equally impressive to the scientific and the poetical imagination. He would have been happy by the midnight lamp in Milton's 'high lonely tower;' but his humour would look at the romances which Milton loved rather ...

— Hours in a Library, Volume I. (of III.) • Leslie Stephen

... command of the fleet. On the other hand, the Dutch were intoxicated with their success; they announced it to the world, in prints, poems, and publications; and Van Tromp affixed a broom to the head of his mast as an emblem of his triumph. He had gone to the Isle of Rhee to take the homeward-bound trade under his charge, with orders to resume his station at the mouth of the Thames, and to prevent ...

— The History of England from the First Invasion by the Romans - to the Accession of King George the Fifth - Volume 8 • John Lingard and Hilaire Belloc

... a jealous, monopolising set you are. Let any one attempt to interfere with your rights, and, like your sturdy national emblem, you are armed to the teeth," said Flora, as she ran off ...

— Flora Lyndsay - or, Passages in an Eventful Life • Susan Moodie

... Clover, and has the same food bags in its cellar. It is just as good for Cows and even better for Bees; so the Brownie stamped all its leaves with the white arrow mark, as you can plainly see. This plant, as you know, is the emblem of Ireland. ...

— Woodland Tales • Ernest Seton-Thompson

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