badge

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any feature that is regarded as a sign of status (a particular power or quality or rank)

   wearing a tie was regarded as a badge of respectability

2. 2
   noun

   an emblem (a small piece of plastic or cloth or metal) that signifies your status (rank or membership or affiliation etc.)

   they checked everyone's badge before letting them in

3. 3
   verb

   to put a badge or sign on a person in order to indicate that they are allowed to be someplace

   The workers here must be badged.

4. 4
   noun

   A distinctive mark, token, sign, emblem or cognizance, worn on one’s clothing, as an insignia of some rank, or of the membership of an organization.

   the badge of a society; the badge of a policeman

5. 5
   noun

   Something characteristic; a mark; a token.

   Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.

6. 6
   noun

   A brand on the hand of a thief, etc.

   He has got his badge, and piked.

7. 7
   noun

   An icon or emblem awarded to a user for some achievement.

   When you have checked in to the site from ten different cities, you unlock the Traveller badge.

8. 8
   noun

   A police officer.

   That's why every badge back home wanted to nail him.

Etymology

From Middle English badge, bagge, bage, bagy, from Anglo-Norman bage or Medieval Latin bagea, bagia (“sign, emblem”), of uncertain origin. Possibly derived from Medieval Latin baga (“ring”), from Old Saxon bāg, bōg (“ring, ornament”), from Proto-Germanic *baugaz (“ring, bracelet, armband”); or possibly the Anglo-Norman word is derived from an earlier, unattested English word (compare Old English bēag (“ring, bracelet, collar, crown”). Cognate with Scots bagie, badgie, bawgy (“badge”).