1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake i. 15 The briar-rose fell in streamers green.

1853 C. G. F. Gore Dean's Daughter III. xxxvii. 183 ‘My maid pointed out to me..this morning half-a-dozen grey hairs in these miserable streamers,’ replied Lady Emily, passing her hand lightly through the long, fair ringlets.

1889 C. Smith Repentance Paul Wentworth III. 228 Tying up a bouquet..with long streamers of pale yellow ribbon.

1908 E. Fowler Between Trent & Ancholme 286 I have seen long streamers of dark pink roses swinging over the Red Sandstone walls of Melrose.

1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 6 Jan. (1948) I. 157 Great cakes frothed with sugar, and stuck with streamers of tinsel.

1718 M. Prior Alma i, in Poems Several Occasions (new ed.) 333 He must be an idle Dreamer, Who leaves the Pie, and gnaws the Streamer.

1838 W. C. Harris Narr. Exped. S. Afr. xii. 106 A collection of skin streamers like the tails of a lady's boa attached to a thin waistcord, being the nearest approach to an habiliment amongst them.

1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxxi. 116 The obliging care of his martial friend had decorated his hat with sundry parti-coloured streamers.

1853 C. Brontë Villette II. xxi. 118 A lady's head-dress—a most airy sort of blue and silver turban, with a streamer of plumage on one side.

1862 W. M. Thackeray Adventures of Philip II. xii. 266 Her own battered, blowsy old chapeau, with its limp streamers.

1879 A. Newton in Encycl. Brit. X. 712/1 In this [species] the remigial streamers do not lose their barbs.

1899 Cambr. Nat. Hist. IX. 548 The extraordinary Pteridophora alberti possesses a wonderful streamer behind each eye, twice as long as the body.

1871 L. Stephen Playground of Europe (1894) viii. 176 Fragments of vapour..clustered in long streamers upon the mountain sides.

1874 J. A. Symonds Sketches Italy & Greece (1898) I. i. 27 Streamers of snow may be seen flying from the higher ridges.

1895 R. W. Chambers King in Yellow (1909) 253 Long streamers of clouds touched with rose swept low on the western sky.

1857 C. M. Yonge Dynevor Terrace I. xvi. 262 The [Christmas] tree became more laden, and the streamers and glass balls produced a more brilliant effect.

1918 A. Bennett Jrnl. 14 Nov. (1932) II. 242 The feature of last night was girls with bunches of streamers which they flicked in your face as you passed.

1930 E. L. Rice Voy. to Purilia xii. 155 The room was gay, with streamers of coloured paper and with large gas balloons.

1959 M. Shadbolt New Zealanders 239 She..found herself waving farewell to her tearful parents from the deck of a ship. Only then, as the tangling streamers snapped across the widening water, did she remember to be surprised at herself.

1980 Daily Tel. 25 Nov. 15/6 This useful company also supplies carnival and party novelties including balloons.., dance streamers,..lucky dip prizes and stocking fillers.

1909 G. R. Chester Making of Bobby Burnet xix. 230 Use two-inch streamers clear across the page.

1922 U. Sinclair They call me Carpenter 88 The headlines flamed before my mind's eye—streamer heads, all the way across the sheet.

1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xxv. 254 Then a very good crime reporter called a portico thief a cat-burglar and the story got a streamer headline.

1957 Listener 1 Aug. 165/1 A five-column streamer in looming Gothic, followed by a banner line in some sort of spidery italic.

1963 Times 19 Apr. 8/5 Invitations to browse in these places, moreover, occasionally decorate the discreet vans of the Stationery Office. But this form of streamer on the van is technically known as a ‘filler’, which means that it is used only when the space is not required for boosting some new publication.

1919 D. Carroll Fishing, Tackle & Kits 265 The white bucktail with the red feather streamers in the shape of a tail made the trout strike.

1929 Field & Stream June 65/3 (advt.) Dixie Wiggler..different colored streamers.

1930 Forest & Stream Mar. 202/2 A lure which is justly famous in a few restricted localities..is the Streamer Fly... This fly is tied in more or less conventional hackle style with a two- or three-inch streamer feather as a tail.

1952 J. Veniard Fly Dressers' Guide xiii. 140 Streamer Flies. This type of fly is immensely popular in America, but its possibilities in the United Kingdom have never been seriously considered. The nearest approach we have to it is the ‘lure’, which consists usually of two or three hooks in tandem with a long wing. The idea is very much the same..the main difference being that many of the ‘streamers’ are tied to represent the small fish on which game fish feed, whereas most of the lures are just brightly coloured ‘attractors’.

1971 K. Draper Trout Flies in N.Z. ii. 41 One of the most popular types of tie is the Parson's Glory style of streamer. This fly is closely allied to the American streamer fly which is tied in much the same manner except that the long neck or saddle hackles ‘stream’ free.

1975 D. J. Collyer Fly-dressing xi. 167 Seven years ago I received..two very interesting flies, both streamers..designed by Lew Oatman, an American, to imitate small fish.

1513 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid xii. Prol. 21 The twinkling stremowris of the orient Sched purpour sprangis with gold and asure ment, Persand the sabill barmkyn nocturnall.

1594 T. Nashe Terrors of Night in Wks. (1904) I. 354 Sundry times wee behold whole Armies of men skirmishing in the Ayre, Dragons, wilde beasts, bloody streamers, blasing Comets, firie strakes, with other apparitions innumerable.

1647 J. Hall Poems ii. 71 O who so stupid that would not Resolve to Atoms, for to play 'Mong th' golden streamers he shall shut, While he prolongs one endlesse day?

1621 F. Quarles Hadassa Introd. B 4 b With mighty streamers came these blazing starres, Portending Warres.

1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 39 It was not by far so bright, nor its streamer shining as this hath appeared.

1710 N. Blundell Diary (1895) 85 My Wife and I saw y^e Strange Starr..the Streamer of it seemed to be fully four yards long.

1909 G. F. Chambers Story of Comets iii. 23 Although comets usually have but one tail, 2 are not uncommon, whilst even that number is often increased by the presence of slender streamers, which are virtually independent tails.

1931 Publ. Lick Observatory (Univ. Calif.) XVII. 481 Secondary nuclei were found showing all the properties of the primary nucleus, namely, halos, jets, and streamers.

1972 D. C. Knight Comets 13 The tail of Donati's comet of 1858 was some 50 million miles long..and was split into two or three streamers.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis vii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 401 When the rosie Morn began to rise, And wav'd her Saffron Streamer thro' the Skies.

1709 Brit. Apollo 18–23 Feb. Your Rayes so extensive, And Lust'ring Streamers.

1878 R. A. Proctor Myst. Time & Space (1883) 110 The Sun's long streamers.

1878 R. A. Proctor Myst. Time & Space (1883) 119 The theory that such meteor systems may explain coronal streamers seen during total eclipses of the sun.

1735 J. Byrom Jrnl. 12 Apr. in Private Jrnl. & Lit. Remains (1855) I. ii. 519 (transcript from orig. shorthand) Mr. C. had a coach, in which I rode to Gray's Inn, there were streamers in the air very remarkable.

a1774 O. Goldsmith Surv. Exper. Philos. (1776) I. 64 The Aurora Borealis..which the vulgar call streamers.

1775 L. Shaw Hist. Moray iii. 148 In the Winter Nights, the Aurora Borealis (from its desultory motion, called Merry~dancers and Streamers) affords no small light.

1801 J. Leyden Elfin-King xxx When high over head fall the streamers red.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Morte d'Arthur in Poems (new ed.) II. 10 The great brand..flashing round and round, and whirled in an arch, Shot like a streamer of the northern morn.

a1861 A. H. Clough Poems & Prose Remains (1869) II. 426 While the arctic streamers bright Rolled from the clouds in waves of airy light.

1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets viii. 250 His splendour is like that of northern streamers in its lambency.

1758 A. Reid tr. P. J. Macquer Elements Theory & Pract. Chym. I. 265 From time to time this streamer darts out to the length of seven or eight inches, snapping and emitting sparks of fire.

1910 Encycl. Brit. V. 883/1 Bright curved streamers starting from the negative terminal.

1934 Physical Rev. 46 101/2 The breakdown in argon is similar to that in helium except that no glow discharge is observed and no anode streamer forms.

1935 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 152 597 The leader to the first stroke consists of a series of streamers moving downwards in a step-by-step manner.

1953 J. M. Meek & J. D. Craggs Electr. Breakdown of Gases iii. 159 In a 6-cm. gap with a 0·05-mm. point, the streamers gradually lengthen, as the voltage is raised, to 1·1 cm. and then breakdown occurs.

1972 Jrnl. Physics D 5 2179 Photomultiplier investigations..have shown that the streamers are weakly luminous channels, and that almost all the ionization phenomena are concentrated at their tip.

1979 J. G. Navarra Atmosphere, Weather & Climate ix. 298 When the leader stroke approaches the ground, a discharge streamer is extended from the ground up to the leader and completes the channel.