1. A flag; colors; a banner; especially, a national or other ensign. His armies, in the following day, On those fair plains their standards proud display. Fairfax.
2. That which is established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, extent, value, or quality; esp., the original specimen weight or measure sanctioned by government, as the standard pound, gallon, or yard.
3. That which is established as a rule or model by authority, custom, or general consent; criterion; test. The court, which used to be the standard of property and correctness of speech. Swift. A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman. Burke.
4. (Coinage)
Defn: The proportion of weights of fine metal and alloy established
by authority.
By the present standard of the coinage, sixty-two shillings is coined
out of one pound weight of silver. Arbuthnot.
5. (Hort.)
Defn: 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. In France part of their gardens is laid out for flowers, others for fruits; some standards, some against walls. Sir W. Temple.
6. (Bot.)
Defn: The upper petal or banner of a papilionaceous corolla.
7. (Mech. & Carp.)