color bearer
1
8.3
- noun
- US
:
portador de colores
- In the ceremony, the color bearer was honored for his bravery while carrying the flag during the march.
Examples
-
During the parade, the color bearer proudly marched at the front, holding the flag high.
-
Atlas Denton, the regimental color-bearer, carried the 47th's Southern Cross battle flag out in front of the assembled troops.
Fiction book (1992) -
Then still another color-bearer went down, and the banner fell in the dust.
Fiction book (1992) -
He aimed at a color bearer in front of the first rank.
Fiction book (1992) -
At the height of his madness, the captain himself dispatches a Union color bearer with a pistol shot.
Fiction book (1998) -
Like the corporal before him, that last brave and lucky—at least lucky up to a point—color-bearer pushed far beyond his comrades.
Fiction book (1992) -
The color bearer ran through the battlefield, ensuring that the unit's flag remained visible to the soldiers.
Synonyms
5
9.0
A person who carries a flag in a parade or battle
1
7.3
A soldier who carries a unit's flag in battle or at ceremonies
A soldier who carries a unit's flag during ceremonies
How Ceremonial
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a soldier who carries the flag' is directly compositional from 'colors' (flags) and 'bearer' (one who carries or presents something ceremonially); the noun phrase transparently denotes someone who carries the colors. This is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common compound pattern and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Color bearer comes from soldiers who literally carried the unit color, meaning 'flag', into battle. The bearer stood at the front and became a 'symbol of courage', so today the term means the soldier who carries the flag and the unit's honor.