streamer

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English stremer,^[2][3][1] formed from Middle English stremen (“to stream”) + -er,^[2][4][5][6] an agent noun from the verb stream.^[5] The Middle English verb comes from the noun strem, from Old English strēam.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A flag streaming in the air, especially a long, narrow pennon: 1292.^[4] Etymonline dates the word to the late 13th century and says it was first nautical, a flag on a mast that identified a ship or signalled in battle.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word passed from ships' flags into general use by the mid-15th century.^[5] From 1513 it also named things that stream light: a luminous heavenly body, the tail of a comet (1621), a ray from the sun (1697) and, in the plural, the aurora borealis (1735).^[4] In northern English and Scots, streamers remained the usual name for the northern lights.^[7] Johnson (1755) defined it as an ensign or pennon, and anything flowing loosely from a stock.^[8] From the 19th century it was used of anything long and narrow that hangs or floats loosely: ribbons on dress (1838), the coloured paper strips thrown at celebrations (1857), long feathers of birds (1879) and strips of cloud or snow (1871).^[4] A headline across a newspaper page was a streamer from 1909, and an angler's fly imitating a small fish from 1919.^[4][9] The verb, to deck with streamers, is recorded from 1818.^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1292 – a long, narrow flag streaming in the air.^[4]
• 1513 – a heavenly body giving out a stream of light (obsolete by 1647).^[4]
• 1621 – the tail of a comet.^[4]
• 1697 – a ray from the sun.^[4]
• 1735 – in the plural, the northern lights.^[4]
• 1810 – anything long and narrow that hangs loose.^[4]
• 1818 – verb, to furnish with streamers.^[4]
• 1857 – a strip of coloured paper used as a festive decoration.^[4]
• 1909 – a headline across a newspaper page.^[4]
• 1919 – an angling fly that imitates a small fish.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long, narrow flag or pennant that streams in the wind.^[2][9][4]
2. A long, narrow strip of coloured paper or ribbon used as a decoration: The hall was hung with paper streamers.^[9][2][4]
3. A stream or band of light, especially one seen in the aurora or the sun's corona.^[9][4]
4. (journalism) A large headline running across the width of a newspaper page; a banner.^[9][4]
5. An angling fly with long feathers that imitates a small fish.^[2][4]
6. A person or thing that streams.^[9]

Verb

1. To decorate with streamers.^[2][4]

Related words

• stream

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins