Standard

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈstændÉ™d/
• US IPA: /ˈstændÉšd/

Origin

From Middle English, from the Old French estandart ("gathering place, battle flag"), from Old Frankish *standhard, equivalent to stand + -ard. Alternative etymology derives the second element from Old Frankish *ord ("point, spot, place") (compare Old English ord ("point, source, vanguard"), German Standort ("location, place, site, position, base", literally standing-point)). More at stand, hard, ord.

Full definition of standard

Noun

1. A principle or example or measure used for comparison.
1. A level of quality or attainment.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 8, 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.
2. Something used as a measure for comparative evaluations; a model.
• Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)the court, which used to be the standard of property and correctness of speech
• Edmund Burke (1729-1797)A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.
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.
• John Arbuthnot (1667-1735)By the present standard of the coinage, sixty-two shillings is coined out of one pound weight of silver.
6. A bottle of wine containing 0.750 liters of fluid.
7. A vertical pole with something at its apex.
1. An object supported in an upright position, such as a Street light.
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter Foreword, ‘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.’
2. The flag or ensign carried by a military unit.
• FairfaxHis armies, in the following day,
  On those fair plains their standards proud display.
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 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.
• Sir W. TempleIn France part of their gardens is laid out for flowers, others for fruits; some standards, some against walls.
6. The sheth of a plough.
7. A manual transmission vehicle.
8. (botany) The upper petal or banner of a papilionaceous corolla.
9. (shipbuilding) An inverted knee timber placed upon the deck instead of beneath it, with its vertical branch turned upward from that which lies horizontally.
10. A large drinking cup.

Adjective

1. Falling within an accepted range of size, amount, power, quality, etc.
2. (of a tree or shrub) Growing on an erect stem of full height.
3. Having recognized excellence or authority.standard works in history; standard authors
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).

Antonyms

• nonstandard

Derived terms