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Midshipman vs Ensign - What's the difference?

midshipman | ensign |

As a noun midshipman

is (nautical) an officer of the lowest rank in several navies; especially , a trainee officer.

As a proper noun ensign is

.

midshipman

English

Noun

(wikipedia midshipman) (midshipmen)
  • (nautical) An officer of the lowest rank in several navies; especially , a trainee officer.
  • (nautical, uncountable) This officer rank.
  • A midshipman fish.

    • Derived terms

    * middie * midshipman fish * midshipmite

    ensign

    English

    (wikipedia ensign)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A badge of office, rank, or power.
  • * (Edmund Waller) (1606-1687)
    • The ensigns of our power about we bear.
  • The lowest grade of commissioned officer in the United States Navy, junior to a lieutenant junior grade.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.}}
  • A flag or banner carried by military units. See standard, color, colour.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • Hang up your ensigns , let your drums be still.
  • (label) The principal flag or banner flown by a ship to indicate nationality.
  • A junior commissioned officer in the 18th and 19th Centuries whose duty was to carry the unit's ensign.
  • A prominent flag or banner.
  • * 1667 ?, (John Milton), (Paradise Lost)
    • Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced.

    Synonyms

    (junior commissioned officer) * coronet (cavalry equivalent of the infantry ensign) * second lieutenant (OF-1), first NATO commissioned officer grade above OF-0 trainee officer

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To designate as by an ensign.
  • *
  • To distinguish by a mark or ornament
  • (heraldry) To distinguish by an ornament, especially by a crown.
    • Any charge which has a crown immediately above or upon it, is said to be ensigned .