blue riband
/ˌbluː ˈrɪbənd
/noun
1 (North American blue ribbon) A ribbon of blue silk given to the winner of a competition or as a mark of great distinction.Have an adult tally up the votes and make sure your winner gets a blue ribbon!...
- Nine-year-old Davey had won and proudly wore a blue ribbon declaring him the winner pinned to his overalls.
- The room was filled with innumerable awards, trophies, blue ribbons, award-winning essays and such.
1.1A badge worn by members of the Order of the Garter.Each knight, or lady, also receives the glittering Garter Star and a blue riband bearing a smaller badge called the Lesser George - most of which they keep at home....
- The Lesser George is gold and is situated at the bottom of the blue riband, or sash, worn over the shoulder.
- Charles II. introduced the blue riband.
2 (Blue Riband or Ribbon) A trophy for the ship making the fastest eastward sea crossing of the Atlantic Ocean on a regular commercial voyage.Additionally, much to the company's joy, she had also held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing....
- The heavily subsidized SS United States went into mothballs less than 15 years after it seized the coveted Blue Riband for crossing the Atlantic in record time in 1952.
- After the Queen Mary took the Blue Riband in 1936, John Brown's laid down the Queen Elizabeth, patently a troopship as much as a liner.
adjective (blue-ribbon) [attributive] North American
1Of the highest quality; first-class: blue-ribbon service...
- Hesiod brags of prizes won, the blue-ribbon poem of a pedigree at the county-fair, coarse-woven and straw-capped.
- Between these continuing reports and word of her ballooning figure, I'm beginning to think we treat blue-ribbon cattle better than Hollywood actresses!
- You'll be hailed as the blue-ribbon bistro chef of the backcountry.
2(Of a jury or committee) specially selected.After organizing a blue-ribbon committee to protest the fraud and demand a recount, he held massive demonstrations throughout the city and went to court....
- The Alabama Legislature has created a blue-ribbon committee to study the state's health care ‘crisis.’
- The blue-ribbon committee charged with developing a new tax policy for the Internet crashed and burned last week.