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flag1 definition

flag (flag)

noun

  1. a piece of cloth or bunting, often attached to a staff, with distinctive colors, patterns, or symbolic devices, used as a national or state symbol, as a signal, etc.; banner; standard; ensign
  2. Now Rare long feathers or quills, as on a hawk
  3. the tail of a deer
  4. the bushy tail of certain dogs, as setters and some hounds
  5. something, as a tab of metal or cardboard, that is attached to a card, folder, etc. so that it may be found easily, as in a file
  6. Comput. a character, symbol, etc. used to mark data or a record for special attention
  7. Music any of the lines extending from a stem, indicating whether the note is an eighth, sixteenth, etc.

Etymology: LME flagge < flag, in obs. sense “to flutter”

transitive verb flagged, flagging flag′·ging

  1. to decorate or mark with flags
  2. to signal with or as with a flag; esp., to signal to stop: often with down
  3. to send (a message) by signaling
  4. to mark with or as with a flag ( & ) to flag a word for deletion
flag Idioms

dip the flag

to salute by lowering a flag briefly
flag2 definition

flag (flag)

noun

Etymology: ME flagge < ON flaga, slab of stone < IE *plāk-, to spread out, flat < base *plā > plain

flag3 definition

flag (flag)

noun

    1. any of various wild irises with flat fans of sword-shaped leaves and white, blue, or yellow flowers
    2. any of various cultivated irises
  1. sweet flag
  2. cattail
  3. the flower or leaf of any of these plants

Etymology: ME flagge < ?

flag4 definition

flag (flag)

intransitive verb flagged, flagging flag′·ging

  1. to become limp; droop
  2. to lose strength; grow weak or tired his energy flagged

Etymology: 16th c., prob. < ON flǫgra, to flutter < IE base *plāk-, to strike > flaw

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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