Virgatus

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having the form of a rod or staff, often symbolizing authority or power
2. characterized by slender, elongated shapes reminiscent of a twig or narrow branch
3. describing something that is long and straight, commonly associated with a specific type of line or feature in heraldry

Etymology: "Virgatus" is a Latin adjective meaning "striped" or "made of rods" and, in botany and zoology, "rod-shaped" or "streaked with fine parallel lines." It comes from "virga," a twig, rod or switch, which is also the root of English "virgule" and, more distantly, "verge" in the sense of a slender staff of office. The sense of a flexible shoot or stick gave rise to the adjective's notion of something long, thin and marked by parallel lines, much like a wand or a striped cloth. The English word itself is a learned borrowing, used in the sciences from the 18th and 19th centuries, when naturalists needed precise terms for the shape and markings of plants and animals. Latin was the working language of such descriptions, so they drew on existing Latin words rather than inventing new roots. Today it appears in technical descriptions of leaves, stems and fur, where it means slender, rod-like or finely striped.

Synonyms: striped, banded

Antonyms: plain, unmarked