badge
/badʒ
/noun
1A small piece of metal, plastic, or cloth bearing a design or words, typically worn to identify a person or to indicate membership of an organization or support for a cause: the badge of the Cheshire Regiment they wore plastic name badges...
- All our wardens carry name badges and will always identify themselves when they approach a member of the public.
- A tall blonde woman appeared at the end of the bed with a name badge that had the word ‘consultant’ on it.
- They wore brass-colored plastic name badges on their chests opposite their shirts' emblems.
Synonyms
pin, breastpin, brooch;
North American button
1.1A distinguishing object or emblem: the car’s front badge is much loved by thieves...
- She informed the LGU that she couldn't wear the Union Jack but was happy with the old badge embodying the emblems of the four home countries.
- A given clan group might possess numerous kangakanga badges or emblems.
- Saint Luke is shown with the image of an ox, which is the badge or emblem of Saint Luke, almost hidden in shadow on the right side.
Synonyms
emblem, crest, insignia, device, shield, escutcheon;
trademark, logo
1.2A feature or sign which reveals a particular quality: philanthropy was regarded as a badge of social esteem...
- ‘It was not seen as a badge of quality any more,’ says Burns.
- It's a badge, a sign they are different from people who don't care.
- Intel's Centrino logo on a hotspot is a guarantee that the equipment has been tested as interoperable with its chipsets and therefore carries a certain badge of quality.
Synonyms
sign, symbol, indication, indicator, signal, mark, token;
hallmark, trademark
verb [with object]
Mark with a badge or other distinguishing emblem: [with object and complement]: vendors can badge their products ‘certified’...
- All 215 last-of-line are badged with the distinctive interlocked red ‘R-R’ of the original Rolls-Royce motor cars.
- Gspda is well-known as a brand in Asia, where it sells a range of different devices, but in Europe its products will be badged by the networks.
- Your average Brunswick St. drone is heavily badged and sloganeered (jackets, caps, shirts, bags, tattoos) just to make sure that absolute strangers know exactly what they are all about in the key area: fashion, music and politics.
Origin
Late Middle English: of unknown origin.
badger from early 16th century:
Badger is probably based on badge (a LME word of unknown origin), with reference to the animal's distinctive facial markings. Use as a verb arose in the late 18th century and reflects the popularity at that time of badger-baiting, a pastime where badgers were drawn from their setts by dogs and killed for sport (illegal in the UK since 1830). The alternative name brock is a use of the Old English word for badger, one of the few words the Anglo-Saxons adopted from Celtic.