noun
- 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
- Now Rare long feathers or quills, as on a hawk
- the tail of a deer
- the bushy tail of certain dogs, as setters and some hounds
- 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
- Comput. a character, symbol, etc. used to mark data or a record for special attention
- Music any of the lines extending from a stem, indicating whether the note is an eighth, sixteenth, etc.
Origin:
LME flagge < flag, in obs. sense “to flutter”
transitive verb flagged, flagging
- to decorate or mark with flags
- to signal with or as with a flag; esp., to signal to stop: often with down
- to send (a message) by signaling
- to mark with or as with a flag ( & ): to flag a word for deletion