brassard

brassard [bras-ahrd, bruh-sahrd] ExamplesWord Origin noun

1. a decorative cloth band, often braided or tasseled, worn around the upper arm, as by military personnel to signify a particular group, regiment, etc.
2. Also brassart [bras-ahrt, bruh-sahrt] /ˈbræs ɑrt, brəˈsɑrt/. a piece of plate armor for the arm.

Origin of brassard 1820–30; French, equivalent to bras arm (see brace) + -ard -ard Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Examples from the Web for brassard Historical Examples of brassard

The soldier from whom his brassard was taken was considered dead.

Georges Guynemer

Henry Bordeaux

So popular was the last-named corps that many fictitious members were soon arrested for bearing its brassard.

Recollections of Thirty-nine Years in the Army

Charles Alexander Gordon

I declare I hardly dare go into the shops with the Red Cross brassard on my arm.

A Journal of Impressions in Belgium

May Sinclair

He wore the Red Cross brassard on the sleeve of his cassock and he carried the Host in a little bag of purple silk.

A Journal of Impressions in Belgium

May Sinclair

It took very little time to round them up, cut a cross in the hair on their backs and place a brassard round their ears.

Five Months at Anzac

Joseph Lievesley Beeston

British Dictionary definitions for brassard brassard brassart (ˈbræsət) noun

1. an identifying armband or badge
2. a piece of armour for the upper arm

Word Origin for brassard C19: from French, from bras arm, from Latin brachium Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012