# flag

Pronunciation: say "FLAG" /flæɡ/

## Noun

1. A piece of cloth bearing a distinctive design or emblem, or the design itself, displayed as the symbol of a country or group or used to send a signal.
   - Simple: A cloth with a special design, or that design, standing for a country or group, or used to signal.
   - _A single flag flew at half-mast over the building._
   - _Soldiers carried their regimental flags into the ceremony._
5. Signaling with a flag, most often to set a race or similar event in motion.
   - Simple: The waving or dropping of a flag to start a race or other event.
   - _At the flag, all the runners shot forward off the line._
   - _The cyclists waited on the line and set off at the flag._
7. In computing, a value that is either on or off, used to record that something has happened, or an option given to a program or command to turn on extra behavior.
   - Simple: In computing, an on-or-off setting that records something or changes how a program or command works.
   - _The parser raises a flag whenever it encounters malformed input._
   - _Several status flags track whether each subsystem has initialized._
9. Aboard a warship, the banner showing that an admiral is present; by extension, the admiral or the admiral's ship.
   - Simple: On a warship, the special banner that shows an admiral is on board, and sometimes the admiral or the admiral's ship.
   - _The flag broke out at the masthead the moment the admiral stepped aboard._
   - _Captains dipped their colors as the flag passed, honoring the admiral it represented._
13. A flat slab of stone used for paving, such as a path or floor; a flagstone.
   - Simple: A flat piece of stone used to cover a path or floor.
   - _Each flag in the courtyard was cut from local stone._
   - _Workers laid the flags one by one along the garden path._
15. Any of various plants with sword-shaped leaves, especially irises, and in particular the yellow iris, Iris pseudacorus.
   - Simple: A plant with long, narrow leaves shaped like swords, especially the yellow iris.
   - _Clumps of flag spread across the marshy bank each spring._
   - _The yellow flag thrives in shallow water and damp soil._
16. In music, a hook attached to the stem of a written note that sets its rhythmic value.
   - Simple: In music, a little hook on a note's stem that shows how short the note is.
   - _A single flag on the stem marks the note as an eighth note._
   - _When notes are joined, their flags become beams connecting the stems._

## Verb

2. To note, mark, or point something out so that it receives attention.
   - Simple: To point something out so that other people will notice it.
   - _Please flag any errors you find in the report._
   - _The editor flagged several sentences for revision._
3. To mark something with a flag, especially to show that it is important.
   - Simple: To put a flag on something to show that it matters.
   - _Surveyors flag the corners of the lot before construction begins._
   - _They flagged the dangerous curve so drivers would slow down._
4. To signal to someone or something, especially to make a passing vehicle stop.
   - Simple: To wave at a moving vehicle to make it stop.
   - _She tried to flag a taxi in the pouring rain._
   - _He flagged down the bus just before it pulled away._
6. To grow weak or feeble; to lose strength or energy.
   - Simple: To slowly lose strength or energy.
   - _By the third mile, the runners began to flag._
   - _Her enthusiasm flagged as the meeting dragged on._
8. To mark or signal, for example by setting a variable to true, that an event or condition has occurred.
   - Simple: To record or signal that something has happened so it can be dealt with.
   - _Sensors flag a temperature spike the moment it occurs._
   - _The software flagged the anomaly during the overnight run._
10. In sports, to penalize a player or team for an infraction of the rules.
   - Simple: In sports, to punish a player for breaking a rule.
   - _The official flagged the defense for pass interference._
   - _Referees flag late hits to protect the quarterback._
11. To hang down loosely and limply, bending or drooping the way a flexible thing does rather than staying stiff.
   - Simple: To hang down loosely, soft and limp, instead of staying stiff and straight.
   - _The ferns flagged as the drought wore on, their fronds bending toward the ground._
   - _Cut stems flag within hours unless you put them in water._
12. To convey a message using signals made with flags.
   - Simple: To send a message by waving or showing flags.
   - _The signalman flagged the order to turn south._
   - _Lookouts flag instructions between vessels when the radios fail._
14. To pave a surface with flagstones, the flat slabs of stone.
   - Simple: To cover a path or floor with flat stone slabs.
   - _Masons flagged the terrace with wide slabs of local sandstone._
   - _The council voted to flag the market square rather than asphalt it._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The team game of capture the flag, in which two sides try to seize each other's flag and carry it home.
- (verb) To furnish or decorate something with flags.
- (verb) To fail something, such as a class or an exam.
- (noun) A mechanical indicator that pops up to alert the pilot to a problem or malfunction.
- (verb) To let a gun's muzzle point at a person or thing one has no intention of shooting.
- (noun) A dark piece of material mounted on a stand to block or shape light, used on film and television sets.
- (noun) In video games and visual novels, a sign that a particular outcome will occur, recognized as a story pattern rather than logic, typically raised by the plot or a character's words.
- (verb) In chess, to lose a game by running out of time on the clock, or to beat an opponent by making them run out of time, especially in blitz.
- (noun) The long, bushy tail of a dog, especially a setter or a similar breed.
- (noun) A chain of faces of a polytope, one of every dimension, in which each face is contained in the next larger one.
- (noun) A nested chain of subspaces within a vector space, running from the zero space up to the whole space, where each one sits strictly inside the next.
- (noun) A garment tied around the waist to protect the front of one's clothes.
- (verb) To lure game animals closer by waving a cloth or banner that makes them curious.
- (verb) Of a female dog, wolf, or fox, to move the tail to one side to show she is ready to mate.
- (verb) To let something hang down limply, or allow it to grow weak.
- (verb) To drain the strength or springiness out of something and leave it worn out.
- (noun) A piece of grass cut from the ground together with its roots and soil.
- (noun) A tough sandstone laid down in even beds, which splits cleanly into slabs for paving.
- (noun) Long feathering that covers the shanks of certain birds of prey, such as some owls and hawks.
- (noun) Extra-long feathers grouped together on the wings of some hawks.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–5, 7–10, 12** — Middle English used the forms flag and flagge, whose earlier history is uncertain. They may be connected with early Middle English flage (a baby's garment) and Old English flagg (a poultice or plaster). Other proposals suggest an imitative origin or trace the word through Proto-Germanic *flaką ("something flat") to Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ("flat, broad, plain"), with reference to its shape. Related Germanic words include Dutch vlag, German Flagge, Swedish flagga and Danish flag.
**Meanings 6, 11** — Middle Dutch flaggheren, vlaggheren ("to droop, flag") is a comparable word. The English verb may grow out of a variant form of flack ("to hang loose"), a word that goes back to Middle English flacken, or it may instead have an Old Norse source.
**Meaning 15** — The plant name goes back to Middle English flagge, whose source is uncertain. It may be North Germanic, as Danish flæg ("yellow iris") suggests, or it may come from flag in its first sense, after its motion in the wind. Dutch vlag is also comparable.
**Meanings 13–14** — Probably Scandinavian or North Germanic in origin, the word came into English as Middle English flag or flagge. Compare Icelandic flag.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/flag (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).