flag

Meanings

Noun

• A piece of cloth, often decorated with an emblem, used as a visual signal or symbol.
• An exact representation of a flag (for example: a digital one used in websites).
• A flag flown by a ship to show the presence on board of the admiral; the admiral himself, or his flagship.
• A signal flag.
• The use of a flag, especially to indicate the start of a race or other event.
• 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.
• In a command line interface, a command parameter requesting optional behavior or otherwise modifying the action of the command being invoked.
• A mechanical indicator that pops up to draw the pilot's attention to a problem or malfunction.
• The game of capture the flag.
• 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.
• 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.
• A dark piece of material that can be mounted on a stand to block or shape the light.
• Any of various plants with sword-shaped leaves, especially irises; specifically, Iris pseudacorus.
• A slice of turf; a sod.
• A slab of stone; a flagstone, a flat piece of stone used for paving.
• Any hard, evenly stratified sandstone, which splits into layers suitable for flagstones.
• A group of feathers on the lower part of the legs of certain hawks, owls, etc.
• A group of elongated wing feathers in certain hawks.
• The bushy tail of a dog such as a setter.
• A hook attached to the stem of a written note that assigns its rhythmic value

Verb

• To furnish or deck out with flags.
• To mark with a flag, especially to indicate the importance of something.
• To signal to, especially to stop a passing vehicle etc.
• To convey (a message) by means of flag signals.
• To note, mark or point out for attention.
• To signal (an event).
• To set a program variable to true.
• To decoy (game) by waving a flag, handkerchief, etc. to arouse the animal's curiosity.
• To penalize for an infraction.
• To lose on time, especially in a blitz game; when using a traditional analog chess clock, a flag would fall when time expired.
• To defeat (an opponent) on time, especially in a blitz game.
• To point the muzzle of a firearm at a person or object one does not intend to fire on.
• To fail, such as a class or an exam.
• To weaken, become feeble.
• To hang loose without stiffness; to bend down, as flexible bodies; to be loose, yielding, limp.
• To let droop; to suffer to fall, or let fall, into feebleness.
• To enervate; to exhaust the vigour or elasticity of.
• To pave with flagstones.

Related

Similar words

• Boolean
• switch, option
• dart

Origin

• From Middle English flag, flagge, further etymology uncertain. Perhaps from or related to early Middle English flage and Old English flagg, flacg. Or, perhaps ultimately imitative, or otherwise drawn from Proto-Germanic *flaką, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ("flat, broad, plain"), referring to the shape.
• Germanic cognates include Saterland Frisian Flaage, West Frisian flagge, Dutch vlag, German Flagge ("flag"), Swedish flagg ("flag"), Danish flag ("flag, ship's flag"). Compare also Middle English flacken ("to flutter, palpitate"), Swedish dialectal flage, 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.
• Image:ADP Session, 31 August 2015 (20867415998).jpg|right|thumb|A flag, namely of the United Nations
• Perhaps from a variant of flack, from Middle English flacken; or perhaps from Old Norse.. Compare Middle Dutch flaggheren, vlaggheren.
• Of uncertain origin, perhaps from North Germanic; compare Danish flæg. Or, possibly from flag#Etymology_1, referring to its motion in the wind. Compare also Dutch vlag.
• Probably of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin; compare Icelandic flag.