badge

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A device or emblem worn as an insignia of rank, office, or membership in an organization.
2. n. An emblem given as an award or honor.
3. n. A characteristic mark. See Synonyms at sign.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A token or cognizance worn in allusion to the wearer's occupation, position, preferences, or achievements. The badge in the middle ages was not necessarily heraldic, though in many cases it was selected from one or more of the heraldic bearings, and it is not bound by heralds' rules. Thus, the white hart of Richard II. is represented in different attitudes, and is not described in the language of blazon. A figure for a badge might also be chosen arbitrarily, as the boar of Richard III. Badges selected as personal tokens have often become heraldic bearings, as the three feathers of the Prince of Wales.
2. n. A mark, token, or device worn by servants, retainers, partizans, or followers, as a sign of their allegiance, or a similar token worn by members of an association to indicate their membership.
3. n. The mark or token of anything.
4. n. Nautical: A carved ornament formerly placed on ships, near the stern, and often containing the representation of a window. A mark of good conduct awarded in the United States naval service to seamen distinguished for sobriety and obedience.
5. To mark or distinguish with a badge or as with a badge.
6. To hawk for sale; buy up, as provisions, for the purpose of selling again; regrate.
7. n. A breed of domesticated pigeons, so named because of the sprinkling of white about the head and 10 white flight-feathers.

Wiktionary

1. n. A distinctive mark, token, sign, emblem or cognizance, worn on one's clothing, as an insignia of some rank, or of the membership of an organization.
2. n. A small nameplate, identifying the wearer, and often giving additional information.
3. n. A card, sometimes with a barcode or magnetic strip, granting access to a certain area.
4. n. Something characteristic; a mark; a token.
5. n. A term used for one burned in the hand.
6. n. A carved ornament on the stern of a vessel, containing a window or the representation of one.
7. n. A distinctive mark worn by servants, retainers, and followers of royalty or nobility, who, being beneath the rank of gentlemen, have no right to armorial bearings.
8. v. To mark or distinguish with a badge.
9. v. To show a badge to.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A distinctive mark, token, sign, or cognizance, worn on the person.
2. n. Something characteristic; a mark; a token.
3. n. A carved ornament on the stern of a vessel, containing a window or the representation of one.
4. v. To mark or distinguish with a badge.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an emblem (a small piece of plastic or cloth or metal) that signifies your status (rank or membership or affiliation etc.)
2. n. any feature that is regarded as a sign of status (a particular power or quality or rank)
3. v. put a badge on