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Bunting
Definitions
- 1 A surname transferred from the nickname.
- 1 Strips of material used as festive decoration, especially in the colours of the national flag. countable, uncountable
- 2 Any of various songbirds of the genus Emberiza, having short bills and brown or gray plumage.
- 3 A warm, often hooded infant garment, as outerwear or sleepwear, similar to a sleeper or sleepsack; especially as baby bunting or bunting bag.
- 4 A pushing action. countable, uncountable
- 5 any of numerous seed-eating songbirds of Europe or North America wordnet
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- 6 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. countable, uncountable
- 7 A strong timber; a stout prop. countable, uncountable
- 8 a loosely woven fabric used for flags, etc. wordnet
- 9 Flags considered as a group. countable, uncountable
- 10 An old boys' game, played with sticks and a small piece of wood. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 1 present participle and gerund of bunt form-of, gerund, participle, present
Etymology
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”).
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.
1922, apparently from Scots buntin (“plump, short and thick (esp. of children)”), itself an old term of endearment for children (1660s); the sense “plump” dates to the 1500s, and may be related to bunt (“belly of a sail”). Possibly related to butt (“(both noun and verb sense: buttocks; strike with head)”) or to bunny (“rabbit”). Compare with the nursery rhyme Bye, baby Bunting (1731), either of same origin or influenced this sense.
From bunting, a nickname for someone who resembled the songbird.
See also for "bunting"
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