Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A military flag; a flag carried in battle.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Their officers kept their men from firing, however, but meanwhile a single-handed contest had begun behind me, for on looking back I heard a Confederate soldier demanding my battle-flag from the color-bearer, thinking, no doubt, that we were coming in as prisoners.

    She Makes Her Mouth Small & Round & Other Stories 2010

  • This is not to say that ideas about race, and other racial memes weren't propagated there, your example of the "battle-flag" was a good one.

    Professor Radical Goes To Washington To Preview The Apocalypse Tenured Radical 2009

  • “Note the black flag of Islam, the battle-flag of jihad, flying over the White House on the placard at left” as well as the words!

    Offensive « BuzzMachine 2006

  • To their horses Gernot and all his men now hasted, and soon the stalwart minstrel, Sir Folker, grasped the battle-flag and rode before the band.

    The Nibelungenlied 2007

  • On a bare, windswept hill flying the battle-flag of the old Boer republics,

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • ATTRIBUTION: Although this quotation has been attributed to several historical figures, the only documented source is the blue battle-flag inscribed with these words ordered and used by Oliver Hazard Perry as a signal during the battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813.

    Oliver Hazard Perry (1785-1819) 1989

  • The sumach perked its red _pompon_ like a holiday soldier, and then flung skyward its crimson battle-flag.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 72, October, 1863 Various

  • Their officers kept their men from firing, however, but meanwhile a single-handed contest had begun behind me, for on looking back I heard a Confederate soldier demanding my battle-flag from the color-bearer, thinking, no doubt, that we were coming in as prisoners.

    Memoirs of the Union's Three Great Civil War Generals David Widger

  • The first object that met our view was a large Confederate battle-flag, suspended from a conspicuous building on one of the principal streets, surmounted, surrounded by "star-spangled banners," large and small, but still there, to set our hearts throbbing wildly, to call forth a rain of blinding tears.

    Memories A Record of Personal Experience and Adventure During Four Years of War Fannie A. Beers

  • To their horses Gernot and all his men now hasted, and soon the stalwart minstrel, Sir Folker, grasped the battle-flag and rode before the band.

    The Nibelungenlied Daniel Bussier Shumway

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