flag
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Noun (7)flags
- emblem usually consisting of a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive designType of emblemKinds colors, banner, battle flag, white flag, black flag, jack, yellow jack, fanion, pennant, standard +5 more
- a listing printed in all issues of a newspaper or magazine (usually on the editorial page) that gives the name of the publication and the names of the editorial staff, etc.Synonyms: mastheadType of list, listing
- plants with sword-shaped leaves and erect stalks bearing bright-colored flowers composed of three petals and three drooping sepalsSynonyms: irisfleur-de-lissword lilyType of iridaceous plantKinds dwarf iris, bearded iris, Persian iris, blue flag, stinking iris, southern blue flag, English iris, bulbous iris, yellow iris, beardless irisMember of genus Iris
- a rectangular piece of fabric used as a signalling deviceSynonyms: signal flagType of visual signalKinds code flag, pennant, red flag
- flagpole used to mark the position of the hole on a golf greenSynonyms: pinType of golf equipment
- stratified stone that splits into pieces suitable as paving stonesSynonyms: flagstoneType of paving stone
- a conspicuously marked or shaped tail
Verb (5)flagged, flagging, flags
- communicate or signal with a flagMore general sign, signal
- provide with a flag“Flag this file so that I can recognize it immediately”More general mark
- droop, sink, or settle from or as if from pressure or loss of tautnessSynonyms: sagdroopswagMore general sink, dropMore specific slump, bag
- decorate with flags“the building was flagged for the holiday”More general decorate, adorn
- become less intenseSynonyms: ease upease offslacken offMore general decrease, diminish
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Noun piece of cloth or often its representation
- Spanish
- bandera
- French
- drapeau
- German
- Flagge
- Italian
- bandiera
- Portuguese
- bandeira
- Turkish
- bayrak
- Russian
- флаг flag
- Arabic
- عَلَم ʕalam
- Chinese
- 旗子 qízi
- Japanese
- 旗 hata
34 more languages
- Dutch
- vlag
- Polish
- flaga
- Swedish
- flagga
- Greek
- σημαία simaía
- Korean
- 깃발 gitbal
- Indonesian
- bendera
- Vietnamese
- cờ
- Hungarian
- zászló
- Portuguese (PT)
- bandeira
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 旗子 qízi
- Albanian
- flamur
- Breton
- banniel
- Catalan
- bandera
- Czech
- vlajka
- Danish
- flag
- Esperanto
- flago
- Estonian
- lipp
- Finnish
- lippu
- Georgian
- დროშა droša
- Hebrew
- דֶּגֶל dégel
- Icelandic
- fáni
- Kurdish
- ala
- Latvian
- karogs
- Lithuanian
- vėliava
- Norwegian
- flagg
- Romanian
- steag
- Scottish Gaelic
- bratach
- Serbo-Croatian
- zastava
- Slovak
- zástava
- Slovenian
- zastava
- Swahili
- bendera
- Walloon
- drapea
- Welsh
- baner
- Yiddish
- פֿאָן fon
Noun true-or-false variable
Verb to weaken, lose strength
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: Cf. Icel. flaka to droop, hang loosely. Cf. Flacker, Flag an ensign.
1. To hang loose without stiffness; to bend down, as flexible bodies; to be loose, yielding, limp.
As loose it [the sail] flagged around the mast.— T. Moore.
2. To droop; to grow spiritless; to lose vigor; to languish; as, the spirits flag; the strength flags.
The pleasures of the town begin to flag.— Jonathan Swift
Synonyms: To droop; decline; fail; languish; pine.
1. To let droop; to suffer to fall, or let fall, into feebleness; as, to flag the wings. prior.
2. To enervate; to exhaust the vigor or elasticity of.
Nothing so flags the spirits.— Laurence Echard
Origin: Cf. LG. & G. flagge, Sw. flagg, Dan. flag, D. vlag. See Flag to hang loose.
1. That which flags or hangs down loosely.
2. A cloth usually bearing a device or devices and used to indicate nationality, party, etc., or to give or ask information; — commonly attached to a staff to be waved by the wind; a standard; a banner; an ensign; the colors; as, the national flag; a military or a naval flag.
3. Zoology (a) A group of feathers on the lower part of the legs of certain hawks, owls, etc. (b) A group of elongated wing feathers in certain hawks. (c) The bushy tail of a dog, as of a setter.
4. Zoology One of the wing feathers next the body of a bird; — called also flag feather.
Black flag. See under Black. — Flag captain, Flag leutenant, etc., special officers attached to the flagship, as aids to the flag officer. — Flag officer, the commander of a fleet or squadron; an admiral, or commodore. — Flag of truse, a white flag carried or displayed to an enemy, as an invitation to conference, or for the purpose of making some communication not hostile. — Flag share, the flag officer's share of prize money. — Flag station Railroads, a station at which trains do not stop unless signaled to do so, by a flag hung out or waved. — National flag, a flag of a particular country, on which some national emblem or device, is emblazoned. — Red flag, a flag of a red color, displayed as a signal of danger or token of defiance; the emblem of anarchists. — To dip, the flag, to mlower it and quickly restore it to its place; — done as a mark of respect. — To hang out the white flag, to ask truce or quarter, or, in some cases, to manifest a friendly design by exhibiting a white flag. — To hang the flag half-mast high or To hang the flag half-staff or To hang the flag at half-staff, to raise it only half way to the mast or staff, as a token or sign of mourning. — To strike the flag or To lower the flag, to haul it down, in token of respect, submission, or, in an engagement, of surrender. — Yellow flag, the quarantine flag of all nations; also carried at a vessel's fore, to denote that an infectious disease is on board.
Origin: From Flag an ensign.
1. To signal to with a flag or by waving the hand; as, to flag a train; also used with down; as, to flag down a cab.
2. To convey, as a message, by means of flag signals; as, to flag an order to troops or vessels at a distance.
3. To decoy (game) by waving a flag, handkerchief, or the like to arouse the animal's curiosity.
The antelope are getting continually shyer and more difficult to flag.— Theodore Roosevelt
Origin: From Flag to hang loose, to bend down.
Botany An aquatic plant, with long, ensiform leaves, belonging to either of the genera Iris and Acorus.
Cooper's flag, the cat-tail (Typha latifolia), the long leaves of which are placed between the staves of barrels to make the latter water-tight. — Corn flag. See under 2d Corn. — Flag broom, a coarse of broom, originally made of flags or rushes. — Flag root, the root of the sweet flag. — Sweet flag. See Calamus, noun, 2.
To furnish or deck out with flags.
Origin: Icel. flaga, cf. Icel. flag spot where a turf has been cut out, and E. flake layer, scale. Cf. Floe.
1. A flat stone used for paving. John Woodward
2. Geology Any hard, evenly stratified sandstone, which splits into layers suitable for flagstones.
To lay with flags of flat stones.
The sides and floor are all flagged with... marble.— George Sandys
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: 1913 supplement
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
1.<programming> A variable or quantity that can take on one of two values; a bit, particularly one that is used to indicate one of two outcomes or is used to control which of two things is to be done. "This flag controls whether to clear the screen before printing the message." "The program status word contains several flag bits." See also hidden flag, mode bit.
2.command line option. [Jargon File]
(1998-05-02)
The Jargon File
[very common] A variable or quantity that can take on one of two values; a bit, particularly one that is used to indicate one of two outcomes or is used to control which of two things is to be done. “This flag controls whether to clear the screen before printing the message.” “The program status word contains several flag bits.” Used of humans analogously to bit . See also hidden flag, mode bit.