bunting - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Bunting on display for day 3 of the 2012 Olympic torch relay, in Devon, UK

Possibly from dialect bunting (“sifting flour”), from Middle English bonten (“to sift”), hence the material used for that purpose. Possibly from Germanic bundt (“to bind or tie together”).

bunting (countable and uncountable, plural buntings)

  1. Strips of material used as festive decoration, especially in the colours of the national flag.
  2. (nautical) A thin cloth of woven wool from which flags are made; it is light enough to spread in a gentle wind but resistant to fraying in a strong wind.
  3. Flags considered as a group.

strips of material hung as decoration

flags as a group

A black-headed bunting (Emberiza melanocephala)

From Middle English bunting, bountyng, buntynge (also as Middle English buntyle), of uncertain origin. Possibly a reference to speckled plumage, from an unrecorded Middle English *bunt (“spotted, speckled, pied”) akin to Dutch bont, Middle Low German bunt, bont, German bunt (“multi-coloured”) +‎ -ing.[1]

bunting (plural buntings)

  1. Any of various songbirds of the genus Emberiza, having short bills and brown or gray plumage.

bird

A baby bunting

1922,[2] apparently from Scots buntin (“plump, short and thick (esp. of children)”),[3][4] itself an old term of endearment for children (1660s); the sense “plump” dates to the 1500s,[3] and may be related to bunt (“belly of a sail”). Possibly related to butt (“(both noun and verb sense: buttocks; strike with head)”)[3] or to bunny (“rabbit”). Compare with the nursery rhyme Bye, baby Bunting (1731), either of same origin or influenced this sense.[5]

bunting (plural buntings)

  1. A warm, often hooded infant garment, as outerwear or sleepwear, similar to a sleeper or sleepsack; especially as baby bunting or bunting bag.

bunting

  1. present participle and gerund of bunt

bunting (countable and uncountable, plural buntings)

  1. A pushing action.

  2. A strong timber; a stout prop.

  3. (obsolete) An old boys' game, played with sticks and a small piece of wood.

  4. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “bunting”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

  5. ^ “bunting”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

  6. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Patricia T. O’Conner, Stewart Kellerman (13 April 2010), “Bye, baby bunting”, in Grammarphobia

  7. ^ See John Jamieson, An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1808-25): buntin “short and thick; as a buntin brat, a plump child.”

  8. ^ Merriam-Webster’s New International Dictionary (unabridged 2nd edition)

Inherited from Malay bunting. Compare Tagalog buntis.

bunting

  1. (somewhat vulgar, usually of animals only) to be pregnant, to get pregnant
    Synonyms: hamil, mengandung

Inherited from Proto-South Sulawesi *buntiŋ (“bride”). Compare Buginese botting, Balinese buncing (“bride, bridegroom, bridal pair”), Bima bunti.

bunting (Lontara spelling ᨅᨘᨈᨗ)

  1. bride; groom
  2. wedding
    Buntinna Daeng Anu
    Daeng Anu's wedding.