bantamn.
/ˈbantəm/, U.S. /ˈbæntəm/ 1.
a. A small variety of the domestic fowl, most breeds of which have feathered legs: the cocks are spirited fighters.
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the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > genus Gallus (domestic fowl) > [noun] > types of
rumpkin1676
bantam1749
Jersey blue1758
Dorking1779
Plymouth Rock1806
Java1813
shack-bag1816
Negro fowl1835
creeper1847
Minorca1848
cuckoo fowl1850
Leghorn1850
Brahmapootra1851
Ancona1853
shanghai1853
Andalusian1854
Bolton bay1854
Corsican cock1854
jacinth1854
Minorca1854
spangle1854
yellow leg1854
Crèvecœur1855
sultan1855
Hamburg1857
Leghorn1857
Yokohama1865
Houdan1871
Langshan1871
Wyandot1881
sultan hen1882
silkie1885
Orpington1887
rock1889
silver-grey1889
Campine1892
Rhode Island Red1893
Faverolles1902
Rhode Island White1905
Malines1906
Rhode Island1914
Australorp1922
maranc1934
1749 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) II. 518 We fed all the bantams, guinea-fowl, pheasants.
1862 W. Barnes Rhymes Dorset Dial. I. 184 Knock'd the bantam cock right down.
b. figurative in reference to small size or ‘cockiness’.
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the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [noun] > that which is small > a small thing > thing small of its kind
decimo-sexto1594
diminutive1609
toy1665
a shrimp of aa1774
bantam1787
pygmy1838
yarkera1842
baby1847
smidgen1952
1787 ‘P. Pindar’ Lyric Odes to Royal Academicians (ed. 5) iii. 9 And struts the veriest Bantam Cock of Paint.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xliii. 469 ‘Do you alvays smoke arter you goes to bed, old cock?’.. ‘Yes, I does, young bantam.’
1863 J. H. Burton Book-hunter (ed. 2) 59 Those pretty little pets, the Elzevir classics, a sort of literary bantams.
c. bantam weight n. (Boxing): see quot. 1954.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > boxing > [noun] > weight > weight division
lightweight1817
bantam weight1884
light middleweight1885
featherweight1889
light-heavyweight1891
light-heavy1895
fly-weight1911
cruiser-weight1920
light flyweight1922
1884 Times 10 Apr. 6/4 The competitions were this year five in number, or one more than usual, a cup having been instituted for ‘bantam weights’, or men not exceeding 8 st. 4 lb.
1894 Outing 24 71/2 An attempt to match the coxswains for a bantam-weight contest.
1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 139/2 Boxers are divided by the Amateur Boxing Association into five classes, according to their weights, as follows:—Bantam Weight, not exceeding 8 st. 4 lb.
1903 Daily Chron. 19 Sept. 3/3 Not even an indomitable spirit will bring a bantam-weight and a welter-weight together.
1910 Encycl. Brit. IV. 351/2 The boxing rules of the American Amateur Athletic Association differ slightly from the British... The recognized classes by weight are: Bantam,..Feather,..Light,..Welter, 145 lb and under; Middle..and Heavy.
1954 F. C. Avis Boxing Ref. Dict. 8 Bantamweight, a standard weight division for professional boxers weighing more than 8 st. but not more than 8 st. 6 lb.; amateurs 8 st. and 8 st. 7 lb. respectively.
d. Applied to battalions, etc., of small-sized soldiers.
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society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > unit of army > [noun] > company of small soldiers
bantam1914
1914 Daily Express 20 Nov. 5/5 ‘Bigland's Bantams’ will probably be the pet name of a battalion which is being raised of men who are just too short to enlist under the ordinary conditions... The Bantams Battalion has been recognised by the War Office.
1914 Scotsman 11 Dec. 7/4 The Edinburgh Rotary Club..has now completed arrangements for the raising of a ‘Bantam Battalion’.
1927 Observer 30 Oct. 7 The 35th was a bantam division which went out to France very early in 1916.
2. bantam-work n. ‘a kind of Indian painting, and carving on wood, resembling Japan-work, only more gay.’ Chambers Cycl. Supp. 1753.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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