Meaning of badine | Babel Free

Definitions

A short, decorated switch or rod, carried by the fashionable in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Examples

“A badine, or switch, dangles in the hand of the beau, whose bare head is dressed with enormous curls, and a fore-top.”

“Amidst all those shocking scenes the Due d'Orleans walked along the streets of Versailles, playing with a badine, smiling at the mob, and, in one instance, directed them with his hand which way to turn.”

“Lafayette's Carriage, flaring with lights, rolls this moment… through the inner Arch of the Carrousel, — where a Lady shaded in broad gypsy-hat, ... stands aside to let it pass, and has even the whim to touch a spoke of it with her badine, — light little magic rod which she calls badine, such as the Beautiful then wore”

“She had indeed issued from the palace in a plain gown and gipsy hat, carrying a badine, or slight stick, such as ladies then used.”

“So one of the three, Badine, he said he had a badine with him that would wake all dead things. Even living things it would make die and then bring back with that badine.”

CEFR level