standard

Etymology

From Middle English standard, from Old French estandart (“gathering place, battle flag”), from Frankish *standahard (literally “stand firm, stand hard”), equivalent to stand + -ard. Alternative etymology derives the second element from Frankish *oʀd (“point, spot, place”) (compare Old French ordé (“pointed”), Old English ord (“point, source, vanguard”), German Standort (“location, place, site, position, base”, literally “standing-point”)). Merged with Middle English standar, stander, standere (“flag, banner”, literally “stander”), equivalent to stand + -er. More at stand, hard, ord.

adj

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.
   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.
   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).
7. (linguistics) Conforming to the standard variety.

noun

1. A principle or example or measure used for comparison.
   1. A level of quality or attainment.
   2. Something used as a measure for comparative evaluations; a model.
      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
   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.
   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.
      I finished my twelfth standard with less than stellar marks. 2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 179
      I am in fifth standard.
2. A vertical pole with something at its apex.
   1. An object supported in an upright position, such as a lamp standard.
   2. The flag or ensign carried by a military unit.
   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.
   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.
   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.
   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
   [page 286:] 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. [page 426:] 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.
   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

intj

1. (UK, slang) An expression of agreement.