ˈgīdän, -īd ə n noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French, from Old Provençal guidoo, from guida guide — more at guide (n.)
1. : a flag resembling but smaller than a standard, cleft or rounded at the outward end, bearing a badge, arms, or other distinctive emblem, and borne as a personal congnizance of some person of rank originally for military use but later chiefly for display at his funeral
2.
a. : a small flag or streamer carried by mounted troops to indicate the side toward the guide when marching and to mark the line on which to make a formation
b. : a usually swallow-tailed flag borne by a military unit (as of the United States armed forces) usually as a unit marker
c. : a flag rounded and cleft at the outward end and borne as a unit marker (as by a British regiment of dragoons)
3. : one who carries a guidon