flag

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A piece of cloth, usually rectangular, of distinctive color and design, used as a symbol, standard, signal, or emblem.
2. n. National or other allegiance, as symbolized by a flag: ships of the same flag.
3. n. A ship carrying the flag of an admiral; a flagship.
4. n. A marking device, such as a gummed strip of paper, attached to an object to attract attention or ease identification; a tab.
5. n. The masthead of a newspaper.
6. n. Music A cross stroke that halves the value of a note to which it is added.
7. n. A distinctively shaped or marked tail, as of a dog or deer.
8. n. Computer Science A variable or memory location that stores true-or-false, yes-or-no information.
9. v. To mark with a flag or flags for identification or ornamentation: flag a parade route; flagging parts of a manuscript for later review.
10. v. To signal with or as if with a flag.
11. v. To signal to stop: flag down a passing car.
12. n. A plant, such as an iris or cattail, that has long sword-shaped leaves.
13. v. To hang limply; droop.
14. v. To decline in vigor or strength: The conversation flagged.
15. n. A flagstone.
16. v. To pave with slabs of flagstone.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To hang loosely and laxly; droop from weakness or weariness.
2. To grow languid or less active; move or act more slowly; become feeble; droop; decline; fail: as, the spirits flag.
3. To grow stale or vapid; lose interest or relish.
4. To become careless or inefficient; slacken; halt.
5. To flap; wave.
6. Synonyms To languish, pine, sink, succumb.
7. To cause or suffer to droop.
8. To make feeble; enervate; exhaust.
9. n. A piece of thin, light fabric, especially bunting, usually rectangular and oblong or square, but sometimes triangular, notched, or otherwise varied in form, ranging from a few inches to several yards in dimensions, used hanging free from a staff to which it is attached or connected by one end, for many purposes, as a signal, symbol, cognizance, or standard, and differing in size, color, and emblematic marking or ornamentation, according to its intended use. The most common employment of flags is as military ensigns, colors, or standards, or emblems of nationality in all its modes of visible manifestation. In the army a flag is a banner by which one regiment is distinguished from another, and is usually called the colors. In the navy flags are borne at the masthead not only to designate the nationality of a vessel, but also to indicate the rank of the officer in command, an admiral's presence being denoted by his flag at the main, a vice-admiral carrying his flag at the fore, and a rear-admiral at the mizzen. In the United States navy admirals' flags are blue, with four, three, or two stars, according to rank. When the President goes afloat, the national flag is displayed in the bow of his barge, or at the main of the man-of-war which receives him. In the British navy the supreme flag is the royal standard, which is to be hoisted only when the sovereign or one of the royal family is on board; the second flag has an anchor on a red ground, and characterizes the lord high admiral or lords commissioners ot the admiralty; and the third is the union or national flag, in which the crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick (the patron saints of England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively) are blended. This flag is appropriated to the admiral of the fleet. (See ensign, and union flag, under union.) The flag of the United States has since 1818 consisted of thirteen horizontal stripes (representing the thirteen original States of the Union), seven red and six white, placed alternately, with a blue union having displayed on it one white five-pointed star for each State in the Union. The Confederate flag had a similar union, but bore three bars, two red and one white, instead of the thirteen stripes. Flags are also used afloat and ashore for signaling. Flags are often raised on public buildings to show that they are open for business, or (as on the Capitol at Washington) that a legislative body is there in session. So, formerly, play-houses exhibited flags on their roofs when there were performances at them. When the players were out of employment, they were said to be flag-fallen (which see).
10. n. The wing or pinion of a bird.
11. n. In a glass-furnace having a grate-room in each end, a part of the bed intervening between the two grate-rooms and serving as a partition between them.
12. n. In ornithology, the tuft of long feathers on the leg of falcons and most other hawks; the lengthened feathers on the crus or tibia.
13. n. In sporting, the tail of a deer or of a setter dog.
14. n. In music. See pennant and hook.
15. n. The recognized standard or symbol of an extreme revolutionary party, or of those who seek social as well as political revolution or anarchy: as, the red flag of the Commune.
16. n. A signal displayed by boats carrying powder, and by ships of war when they are shipping or discharging powder.
17. n. A danger-signal in target-practice and on railways: used on the latter to bring trains to a stand.
18. n. A piece of red flannel used as a lure for flsh.
19. n. The bloody spout of a dying whale.
20. To place a flag over or on: as, to flag a house.
21. To signal or warn by the use of a flag: as, to flag a train or a steamboat.
22. To decoy, as game, by waving some object like a flag to excite attention or curiosity.
23. n. One of various endogenous plants with sword-shaped leaves, mostly growing in moist places; particularly, the common species of Iris, as the yellow flag or water-flag of England (I. Pseudacorus), the white flag (I. Germanica), and blue flags of the United States, as I. versicolor and I. prismatica. The cattail-flag is Typha latifolia and other species; the corn-flag of Europe, Gladiolus segetum, etc.; the sweet-flag, Acorus Calamus. The cattail-flag is used by coopers to tighten the seams of fish-barrels. The term flag is also applied to the broad-leafed fixed seaweeds.
24. To tighten the seams of (a barrel) by means of flags. See flag, n. Encyc.
25. n. A piece of turf; a sod.
26. n. A flat stone used for paving.
27. n. A flake of snow.
28. n. A tuft of coarse grass.
29. To lay or pave with flags or flat stones.
30. n. A groat; fourpence.
31. n. A trade-name for the outer or distal portion of bristle, which is thinner and lighter than the basal portion.
32. n. Iris Florentina, with bluish-white flowers. See Iris and orris-root.

Wiktionary

1. n. A piece of cloth, often decorated with an emblem, used as a visual signal or symbol.
2. n. nautical A flag flown by a ship to show the presence on board of the admiral; the admiral himself, or his flagship.
3. n. nautical, often used attributively A signal flag.
4. n. The use of a flag, especially to indicate the start of a race or other event.
5. n. computer science A variable or memory location that stores a true-or-false, yes-or-no value, typically either recording the fact that a certain event has occurred or requesting that a certain optional action take place.
6. n. computer science In a command line interface, a notation requesting optional behavior or otherwise modifying the action of the command being invoked.
7. n. UK, puerile An abbreviation for capture the flag.
8. v. To mark with a flag, especially to indicate the importance of something.
9. v. To signal to, especially to stop a passing vehicle etc.
10. v. To note, mark or point out for attention.
11. v. computing To signal (an event).
12. v. computing To set a program variable to true.
13. v. intransitive To weaken, become feeble.
14. n. Any of various plants with sword-shaped leaves, especially irises; specifically, Iris pseudacorus.
15. n. obsolete except in dialects A slice of turf; a sod.
16. n. A slab of stone; a flagstone, a flat piece of stone used for paving.
17. v. To lay down flagstones.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To hang loose without stiffness; to bend down, as flexible bodies; to be loose, yielding, limp.
2. v. To droop; to grow spiritless; to lose vigor; to languish
3. v. To let droop; to suffer to fall, or let fall, into feebleness.
4. v. To enervate; to exhaust the vigor or elasticity of.
5. n. That which flags or hangs down loosely.
6. n. 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
7. n. A group of feathers on the lower part of the legs of certain hawks, owls, etc.
8. n. A group of elongated wing feathers in certain hawks.
9. n. The bushy tail of a dog, as of a setter.
10. n. (Zoöl.) One of the wing feathers next the body of a bird; -- called also flag feather.
11. v. To signal to with a flag or by waving the hand; ; also used with down.
12. v. To convey, as a message, by means of flag signals.
13. v. To decoy (game) by waving a flag, handkerchief, or the like to arouse the animal's curiosity.
14. n. (Bot.) An aquatic plant, with long, ensiform leaves, belonging to either of the genera Iris and Acorus.
15. v. To furnish or deck out with flags.
16. n. A flat stone used for paving.
17. n. (Geol.) Any hard, evenly stratified sandstone, which splits into layers suitable for flagstones.
18. v. To lay with flags of flat stones.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. decorate with flags
2. v. communicate or signal with a flag
3. n. plants with sword-shaped leaves and erect stalks bearing bright-colored flowers composed of three petals and three drooping sepals
4. v. droop, sink, or settle from or as if from pressure or loss of tautness
5. n. a rectangular piece of fabric used as a signalling device
6. n. flagpole used to mark the position of the hole on a golf green
7. v. become less intense
8. n. stratified stone that splits into pieces suitable as paving stones
9. n. 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.
10. n. emblem usually consisting of a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design
11. v. provide with a flag
12. n. a conspicuously marked or shaped tail