bunting1

[buhn-ting] /ˈbʌn tɪŋ/
noun
1.
a coarse, open fabric of worsted or cotton for flags, signals, etc.
2.
patriotic and festive decorations made from such cloth, or from paper, usually in the form of draperies, wide streamers, etc., in the colors of the national flag.
3.
flags, especially a vessel's flags, collectively.
Origin
1735-45; perhaps orig. “sifting cloth,” hence bunt to sift (Middle English bonten) + -ing1

bunting2

[buhn-ting] /ˈbʌn tɪŋ/
noun
1.
any of several small, chiefly seed-eating birds of the genera Emberiza, Passerina, and Plectrophenax.
Compare indigo bunting, reed bunting, snow bunting.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English < ?

bunting3

[buhn-ting] /ˈbʌn tɪŋ/
noun
1.
a hooded sleeping garment for infants.
Also called sleeper.
Origin
1920-25; special use of bunting1

bunt1

[buhnt] /bʌnt/
verb (used with object)
1.
(of a goat or calf) to push with the horns or head; butt.
2.
Baseball. to bat (a pitched ball) very gently so that it rolls into the infield close to home plate, usually by holding the bat loosely in hands spread apart and allowing the ball to bounce off it.
verb (used without object)
3.
to push (something) with the horns or head.
4.
Baseball. to bunt a ball.
noun
5.
a push with the head or horns; butt.
6.
Baseball.
  1. the act of bunting.
  2. a bunted ball.
Origin
1760-70; orig. British dial. (Central and S England): push, strike; of obscure origin
Related forms
bunter, noun
Examples from the web for bunting
  • It swings for the fences on tax hikes for the rich while bunting on sensible fixes to the rest of the system.
  • There was a dais at one end of the yard, decorated with tricolor bunting and set with many chairs.
  • There is danger of a flag and bunting famine among the dealers in these commodities in this city.
  • Meanwhile, the left-handed-hitting slugger continued to counter the over-shift against him by bunting when leading off an inning.
  • Flags and bunting hung from the back of a shiny blue train car.
  • Painted bunting observer team seeks help from citizen scientists.
  • Annual survival in the southeastern coastal breeding population of the painted bunting.
British Dictionary definitions for bunting

bunting1

/ˈbʌntɪŋ/
noun
1.
a coarse, loosely woven cotton fabric used for flags, etc
2.
decorative flags, pennants, and streamers
3.
flags collectively, esp those of a boat
Word Origin
C18: of unknown origin

bunting2

/ˈbʌntɪŋ/
noun
1.
any of numerous seed-eating songbirds of the families Fringillidae (finches, etc) or Emberizidae, esp those of the genera Emberiza of the Old World and Passerina of North America. They all have short stout bills
Word Origin
C13: of unknown origin

Bunting

/ˈbʌntɪŋ/
noun
1.
Basil. 1900–85, British poet, author of Briggflatts (1966)

bunt1

/bʌnt/
verb
1.
(of an animal) to butt (something) with the head or horns
2.
to cause (an aircraft) to fly in part of an inverted loop or (of an aircraft) to fly in such a loop
3.
(US & Canadian) (in baseball) to hit (a pitched ball) very gently
noun
4.
the act or an instance of bunting
Word Origin
C19: perhaps nasalized variant of butt³

bunt2

/bʌnt/
noun
1.
(nautical) the baggy centre of a fishing net or other piece of fabric, such as a square sail
Word Origin
C16: perhaps from Middle Low German buntbundle

bunt3

/bʌnt/
noun
1.
a disease of cereal plants caused by smut fungi (genus Tilletia)
Word Origin
C17: of unknown origin
Word Origin and History for bunting
n.

"flag material," 1742, perhaps from Middle English bonting gerundive of bonten "to sift," because cloth was used for sifting grain, via Old French, from Vulgar Latin *bonitare "to make good."

lark-like bird, c.1300, bountyng, of unknown origin. Perhaps from buntin "plump" (cf. baby bunting, also Scots buntin "short and thick;" Welsh bontin "rump," and bontinog "big-assed"), or a double diminutive of French bon. Or it might be named in reference to speckled plumage and be from an unrecorded Old English word akin to German bunt "speckled," Dutch bont.

bunt

v.

1825, "to strike with the head or horns," perhaps an alteration of butt (v.) with a goat in mind, or a survival from Middle English bounten "to return." As a baseball term from 1889. Related: Bunted; bunting.

n.

1767, "a push;" see bunt (v.). Baseball sense is from 1889.