flag

English Online Dictionary. What means flag‎? What does flag mean?

English

Wikiquote

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /flæɡ/, [fɫæɡ]
• (North American also) IPA^(key): /fleɪɡ/
• Rhymes: -æɡ, -eɪɡ

Etymology 1

From Middle English flag, flagge (“flag”), further etymology uncertain. Perhaps from or related to early Middle English flage (name for a baby's garment) and Old English flagg, flacg (“cataplasm, poultice, plaster”). Or, perhaps ultimately imitative, or otherwise drawn from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”), referring to the shape.

Germanic cognates include Saterland Frisian Flaage (“flag”), West Frisian flagge (“flag”), Dutch vlag (“flag”), German Flagge (“flag”), Swedish flagga (“flag”), Danish flag (“flag, ship's flag”). Compare also Middle English flacken (“to flutter, palpitate”), Swedish dialectal flage (“to flutter in the wind”), Old Norse flögra (“to flap about”). Akin to Old High German flogarōn (“to flutter”), Old High German flogezen (“to flutter, flicker”), Middle English flakeren (“to move quickly to and fro”), Old English flacor (“fluttering, flying”). More at flack, flacker.

Noun

flag (countable and uncountable, plural flags)

1. A piece of cloth, often decorated with an emblem, used as a visual signal or symbol.
2. The design that could be placed on a flag, typically a rectangular graphic that is used to represent an entity (like a country, organisation or group of people) or an idea.

3. (nautical) A flag flown by a ship to show the presence on board of the admiral; the admiral himself, or his flagship.
4. (nautical, often used attributively) A signal flag.
5. The use of a flag, especially to indicate the start of a race or other event.
6. (computer science) A variable or memory location that stores a Boolean 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.
7. (computer science) In a command line interface, a command parameter requesting optional behavior or otherwise modifying the action of the command being invoked.
8. (aviation) A mechanical indicator that pops up to draw the pilot's attention to a problem or malfunction.
9. (British, uncountable) The game of capture the flag.
10. (geometry) A sequence of faces of a given polytope, one of each dimension up to that of the polytope (formally, though in practice not always explicitly, including the null face and the polytope itself), such that each face in the sequence is part of the next-higher dimension face.
11. (mathematics, linear algebra) A sequence of subspaces of a vector space, beginning with the null space and ending with the vector space itself, such that each member of the sequence (until the last) is a proper subspace of the next.
12. (television) A dark piece of material that can be mounted on a stand to block or shape the light.
13. (UK, archaic, slang) An apron.
14. (Internet slang, ACG) An indication that a certain outcome or event is going to happen, deduced not logically or causally, but as a pattern in a piece of media. Chiefly used in video games and adjacent media, especially visual novels, it is typically described as being raised or set by the plot or words of a character.

Synonyms

• (computer science: true-or-false value): Boolean
• (computer science: CLI notation): switch, option
• (geometry: sequence of faces of a polytope): dart

Holonyms

• (piece of cloth): bunting

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

flag (third-person singular simple present flags, present participle flagging, simple past and past participle flagged)

1. To furnish or deck out with flags.
2. To mark with a flag, especially to indicate the importance of something.
3. (often with down) To signal to, especially to stop a passing vehicle etc.

4. To convey (a message) by means of flag signals.

5. (often with up) To note, mark or point out for attention.

6. (computing) To signal (an event).

7. (computing) To set a program variable to true.

8. To decoy (game) by waving a flag, handkerchief, etc. to arouse the animal's curiosity.
9. (sports) To penalize for an infraction.

10. (chess, intransitive) To lose on time, especially in a blitz game; when using a traditional analog chess clock, a flag would fall when time expired.
    • Mark Dvoretsky (2014) For Friends & Colleagues, volume 1, →ISBN: “Indeed, I usually spent an hour to an hour and a half on my game, never found myself in time pressure, never once flagged in my entire life, except in blitz games, of course.”
11. (chess, transitive) To defeat (an opponent) on time, especially in a blitz game.

12. (firearms) To point the muzzle of a firearm at a person or object one does not intend to fire on.
13. To fail, such as a class or an exam.

14. (biology) In female canids, to signal mating readiness by moving the tail aside to expose the vulva.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Etymology 2

Perhaps from a variant of flack (“to hang loose”), from Middle English flacken; or perhaps from Old Norse. Compare Middle Dutch flaggheren, vlaggheren (“to droop, flag”).

Verb

flag (third-person singular simple present flags, present participle flagging, simple past and past participle flagged)

1. (intransitive) To weaken, become feeble.
2. To hang loose without stiffness; to bend down, as flexible bodies; to be loose, yielding, limp.
3. To let droop; to suffer to fall, or let fall, into feebleness.
4. To enervate; to exhaust the vigour or elasticity of.

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English flagge, of uncertain origin, perhaps from North Germanic; compare Danish flæg (“yellow iris”). Or, possibly from sense 1, referring to its motion in the wind. Compare also Dutch vlag.

Noun

flag (plural flags)

1. Any of various plants with sword-shaped leaves, especially irises; specifically, Iris pseudacorus.
   • before 1899, Robert Seymour Bridges, There is a Hill:

     And laden barges float

     By banks of myosote;

     And scented flag and golden flower-de-lys

     Delay the loitering boat.

Derived terms

• sweet flag
• yellow flag

Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English flag, flagge, probably of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin; compare Icelandic flag.

Noun

flag (plural flags)

1. (obsolete except in dialects) A slice of turf; a sod.
2. A slab of stone; a flagstone, a flat piece of stone used for paving.
3. (geology) Any hard, evenly stratified sandstone, which splits into layers suitable for flagstones.

Translations

Verb

flag (third-person singular simple present flags, present participle flagging, simple past and past participle flagged)

1. (transitive) To pave with flagstones.

Translations

Etymology 5

Noun

flag (plural flags)

1. A group of feathers on the lower part of the legs of certain hawks, owls, etc.
2. A group of elongated wing feathers in certain hawks.
3. The bushy tail of a dog such as a setter.
4. (music) A hook attached to the stem of a written note that assigns its rhythmic value

References

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese フラグ (furagu), from English flag.

Pronunciation

Noun

flag

1. (Internet slang, ACG) flag

   死亡flag  ―  sǐwáng flag  ―  the words of a character which, as a pattern, usually precede the character's death

2. goal; resolution; statement of intent

   新年flag  ―  xīnnián flag  ―  New Year resolutions

   立flag  ―  lì flag  ―  to set up a goal

   他的flag倒了。  ―  Tāde flag dǎole.  ―  He didn't achieve the goal.

   • 很多同學立了flag要好好備考，然而好的學習方法能起到事半功倍的效果。 [MSC, trad.]
     很多同学立了flag要好好备考，然而好的学习方法能起到事半功倍的效果。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 2020 April 11, "雅思中国网" (username), Weibo post

     Hěnduō tóngxué lìle flag yào hǎohǎo bèikǎo, rán'ér hǎode xuéxí fāngfǎ néng qǐdào shìbàngōngbèi de xiàoguǒ. [Pinyin]

     Many students stated there resolution to study hard for the test, and a good way to study can yield twice the result with half the effort.

   • “這輩子不打工”的flag就先擱置吧。 [MSC, trad.]
     “这辈子不打工”的flag就先搁置吧。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 2020 April 11, The Beijing News, “Internet Celebrity Thief to be Released: Put Aside For Now the Resolution to "Not Get Employed Forever"”

     “zhè bèizǐ bù dǎgōng” de flag jiù xiān gēzhì ba. [Pinyin]

     Put aside for now the resolution to "not get employed forever".

Danish

Etymology

From Dutch or English flag.

Noun

flag n (singular definite flaget, plural indefinite flag)

1. flag (cloth)
2. flag (true-false variable)

Inflection

Verb

flag

1. imperative of flage

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English flag.

Pronunciation

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /flɛɡ/
• Hyphenation: flag

Noun

flag m (plural flags, diminutive flagje n)

1. (computing) flag

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse flag, flaga, probably from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). However, compare Proto-Germanic *plaggą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flaːɣ/
• Rhymes: -aːɣ

Noun

flag n (genitive singular flags, nominative plural flög)

1. area of ground stripped of turf

Declension

Related terms

• flaga

References

North Frisian

Alternative forms

• Flāg (Sylt)

Etymology

Cognate with English flag, Dutch vlag, German Flagge.

Noun

flag f (plural flagen)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) flag

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English flag.

Pronunciation

Noun

flag m or f (plural flags)

1. (programming) flag (true-or-false variable)

   Synonym: booleano