Definition of "standard"

standard

/ˈstændəd/

adjective
comparative more standard, superlative most standard
1. Falling within an accepted range of size, amount, power, quality, etc.
2. (of a tree or shrub) Growing alone as a free-standing plant; not trained on a post etc.
  Quotations
  There are women who cannot grow alone as standard trees;—for whom the support and warmth of some wall, some paling, some post, is absolutely necessary […].
  1863, Anthony Trollope, Rachel Ray
3. Having recognized excellence or authority.
4. Of a usable or serviceable grade or quality.
5. (not comparable, of a motor vehicle) Having a manual transmission.
6. As normally supplied (not optional).
7. (linguistics) Conforming to the standard variety.
noun
plural standards
1. A principle or example or measure used for comparison.
  1. A level of quality or attainment.
    Quotations
    The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; […]. Our table in the dining-room became again the abode of scintillating wit and caustic repartee, Farrar bracing up to his old standard, and the demand for seats in the vicinity rose to an animated competition.
    1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
  2. Something used as a measure for comparative evaluations; a model.
    Quotations
    the court, which used to be the standard of propriety and correctness of speech
    1712, Jonathan Swift, A Proposal For Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue
    A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.
    1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […]
  3. A musical work of established popularity.
  4. A rule or set of rules or requirements which are widely agreed upon or imposed by government.
  5. The proportion of weights of fine metal and alloy established for coinage.
    Quotations
    By the present standard of the coinage, sixty-two shillings is coined out of one pound weight of silver.
    1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures. Explain'd and exemplify'd in several dissertations
  6. (sociolinguistics) standard idiom, a prestigious or standardized language variety; standard language
  7. A bottle of wine containing 0.750 liters of fluid.
  8. (India) Grade level in primary education.
    Quotations
    I finished my twelfth standard with less than stellar marks.
    2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 179
2. A vertical pole with something at its apex.
  1. An object supported in an upright position, such as a lamp standard.
    Quotations
    It was called the wickedest street in London and the entrance was just here. I imagine the mouth of the road lay between this lamp standard and the second from the next down there.
    1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus
  2. The flag or ensign carried by a military unit.
    Quotations
    His armies, in the following day, / On those fair plains their standards proud display.
    1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes
  3. One of the upright members that supports the horizontal axis of a transit or theodolite.
  4. Any upright support, such as one of the poles of a scaffold.
  5. A sturdy, woody plant whose upright stem is used to graft a less hardy ornamental flowering plant on, rather then actually planting it.
  6. A tree of natural size supported by its own stem, and not dwarfed by grafting on the stock of a smaller species nor trained upon a wall or trellis.
    Quotations
    In the more temperate parts of France [gardens are] part laid out for Flowers, others for Fruits, ſome Standards, ſome againſt Walls or Paliſades, [...]
    1685, William Temple, “Upon the Gardens of Epicurus, or of Gardening in the Year 1685”, in Miscellanea. The Second Part. [...], 2nd edition, London: […] J. R. for Ri[chard] and Ra[lph] Simpson, […], published 1690, page 111
    It [Loranthus europaeus] grows chiefly on the branches of standards over coppice.
    1907, William Schlich, Schlich's Manual of Forestry, page 415
  7. The sheth of a plough.
3. A manual transmission vehicle.
4. (botany) The upper petal or banner of a papilionaceous corolla.
5. (shipbuilding) An inverted knee timber placed upon the deck instead of beneath it, with its vertical branch turned upward from that which lies horizontally.
6. A large drinking cup.
  Quotations
  Frolic, my lords; let all the standards walk, / Ply it till every man hath ta’en his load.
  c. 1590, Thomas Lodge, Robert Greene, “A Looking Glass for London”, in The Complete Plays of Robert Greene‎, London: Ernest Ben Limited, published 1909
7. (historical) A collar of mail protecting the neck.
  Quotations
  The scales generally showed on the face of the garment or defence, and we find body armour, gorgets, habergeons, standards or neck defences, and even the camailt of this class of armour.
  1903, The Archaeological Journal, page 104
  Goldsmiths also made gold and silver mail for the decorations of helmets and gorgets. The will of Duke Philip the Good shows that he owned a mail standard (collar) made of solid gold.
  1992, Matthias Pfaffenbichler, British Museum, Armourers
  The throat and upper chest was protected by the gorget plate, mail standard or a metal wrapper. Whichever helm Richard chose to wear, it might have had a keyhole at the top to allowed insignia to be inserted.
  2008, Josephine Wilkinson, Richard III: The Young King to be, Amberley Publishing Limited
  A defense for the neck variously described as a combination of gorget and bevor worn with a salade, and as a standard of mail, or collar, worn under the plate gorget. Baron de Cosson says (Helmets and Mail 110): “Thus in the British Museum there is a standard of mail of which the rings of the top edge are exceedingly close and stiff, […] "
  2013, George Cameron Stone, A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times, Courier Corporation
  Mail was also used to provide skirts substituting for tassets, for collars called "standards" substituting for gorgets, as well as for coats (long) and shirts (short). Consequently finding a few links gives little or no clue to their source. The few from the Fort, however, include copper-alloy (brass?) links, ...
  2016, Ivor Noel Hume, Audrey Noel Hume, The Archaeology of Martin's Hundred: Part 1, Interpretive Studies; Part 2, Artifact Catalog, University of Pennsylvania Press, page 151
8. Short for standard poodle.
  Quotations
  Since standards are large dogs, they grow much more rapidly than miniatures and toys, which means that they require more supplements.
  1968, Jeff Griffen, The Poodle Book, page 36
interjection
1. (UK, slang) An expression of agreement.

Definition of "standard"

standard

adjective

Quotations

noun

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

interjection