banneret

noun

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, historical)Clipping of knight banneret, a knight entitled to subinfeudate his estate and to lead men in battle under his own banner.
2. A small banner.

   “[…] yet the scarfs and the bannerets about thee did manifoldly dissuade me from believing thee a vessel of too great a burthen.”

   “His armor and his horse were black; there was no device on his shield and no banneret on his spear.”

3. (historical)A proposed but unadopted senior commissioned rank of the Royal Air Force equivalent to group captain.

   “A list of new titles was manufactured as follows: Ensign, Lieutenant, Flight-Leader, Squadron-Leader, Reeve, Banneret, Fourth-Ardian, Third-Ardian, Second-Ardian, Ardian, Air Marshal. […O]ne may regret “Banneret”, which has a flavour and associations, more especially as the leader of a formation in the air went into battle flying a streamer which formed a rallying mark as did the banner of the knight for his vassals.”

4. A civil officer in some Swiss cantons.