[L. (in sense 1), f. the stem of vehĕre to carry.]
1. a. A flag or banner carried by Roman troops; a body of men grouped under one banner.
1726. Gordon, Itin. Sept., 79. The Figures of two winged Victories, supporting the Roman Vexillum.
1805. James, Milit. Dict. (ed. 2), Vexillum, the standard which was carried by the Roman horse.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., These vexilla averaged from 500 to 600 in strength.
b. Eccl. A small piece of linen or silk attached to the upper part of a crozier.
1877. F. G. Lee, Gloss. Eccl. & Liturg. Terms, 438. Many examples of the vexillum are represented in illuminated MSS.
1905. Ch. Times, 3 Feb., 136/3. The vexillum sometimes attached to a pastoral staff was a ‘sudarium’ or handkerchief, in all probability.
2. Bot. The large external petal of a papilionaceous flower.
1727. Bailey (vol. II.), Vexillum, the Banner of the broad Single Leaf, which stands upright.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., II. xx. (1765), 116. Vexillum, the Standard, a Petal covering the rest.
c. 1789. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), III. 446/2. The superior [petal] ascending, (called the vexillum or flag).
1821. W. P. C. Barton, Flora N. Amer., I. 11. Corolla with a long sabre-shaped vexillum of a deep carmine-red colour.
1872. Oliver, Elem. Bot., App. 304. Corolla [of garden pea] papilionaceous, white; vexillum large.
3. Ornith. The vane or web of a feather.
1867. P. L. Sclater, trans. Nitzsch’s Pterylography, 10. The Barbs … form, with the parts seated upon them, the so-called Vane (vexillum).
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 2. The rhachis … alone bears vexilla. Ibid., 34. Except in the case of a few of the innermost remiges, their outer vexillum … is always narrower than the inner.
