bannal

B3A1N1N1A1L1

noun

Synonym of common broom (“Cytisus scoparius”).

Scrabble 8

Meanings

bannal1

adjectivebannal (comparative more bannal, superlative most bannal)

comparative more bannal · superlative most bannal

  1. uncommonUncommon form of banal.

    In a bannal lordship the local seigneur, whether a castellan or a monastery, wielded a powerful and independent economic, judicial and fiscal authority over his men.

    1980, Elizabeth M[ary] Hallam, Capetian France: 987–1328, London; New York, N.Y.: Longman, →ISBN, page 13
    3 more examples

    As feudalism in England never took the extreme centrifugal form of continental feudalism because it was, to a great extent, under the control of the crown, and as the king retained most of the powers of the ban in his own hands, there was never the opportunity for bannal lordships to develop in England.

    1979, S.A.C. du Plessis, “Seigneurialism or manorialism”, in Kleio, volume 11, numbers 11–12, Taylor & Francis, →DOI, →ISSN, page 32

    The lords also quickly succeeded in extending their seigneurial jurisdiction over these dependents for all but the most serious crimes—just as the bannal lords of France had done three centuries earlier—thereby removing much of the county population from the direct judicial authority of the count and, indirectly, of the king.

    1997, Thomas Ertman, Birth of the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 274

    This man, an intellectual Alexander King—in both looks and attitude—bitter, bitter sweet (and I don't use the term intellectual in the bannal method of today) has verbally crucified every member of the class who dared open his mouth—and to read a work of ones own! Sheer folly.

    2003 February, Jonathan Lethem, “The Disappointment Artist”, in Harper's Magazine, volume 306, number 1833, New York, N.Y.: Harper's Magazine Foundation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 50

bannal2

nounbannal (plural bannals)

plural bannals

  1. dialectalrareSynonym of common broom (“Cytisus scoparius”).

    Cytisus scoparius Link. Common Broom; Bannal. Native. "Common in most of the districts, but becoming rarer as the Lizard and Land's End are approached. Cornish people hold that there are male and female Bannals, or, as it is locally expressed, He Bannals and She Bannals.

    1930, Edgar Thurston, British & Foreign Trees and Shrubs in Cornwall

    Synonyms: common broom

Synonyms & antonyms

nounSynonym of common broom (“Cytisus scoparius”).

Origin

  1. Cornishbanadhel“broom”
  2. Englishbannal

From Cornish banadhel (“broom”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bannal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bannal

MLA

“bannal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bannal. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bannal,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bannal.

Source: bannal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.