Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

[ English

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flag

[ Pronunciation

• IPA: /flæg/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -æɡ

[ Etymology 1

[ Adjective

flag (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to an admiral, commodore, or general officer.

   Captains park in the second row, flag officers next to the building.

[ Translations

a flag

[ Noun

flag (plural flags)

1. A piece of cloth, often decorated with an emblem, used as a visual signal or symbol.
2. (nautical) A flag flown by a ship to show the presence on board of the admiral; the admiral himself, or his flagship.
3. The use of a flag, especially to indicate the start of a race or other event.
4. (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.
5. (computer science) In a command line interface, a notation requesting optional behavior or otherwise modifying the action of the command being invoked.

[ Synonyms

• (computer science: true-or-false value): Boolean
• (computer science: CLI notation): switch

[ Translations

[ Verb

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

1. To mark with a flag, especially to indicate the importance of
2. (often with down) To signal to, especially to stop a passing vehicle etc.
   • Please flag a taxi down for me.
3. (intransitive) To weaken, become feeble.
   • His strength flagged toward the end of the race.
4. (computing): To signal (an event).
   • The compiler flagged three errors.
5. (computing): To set a program variable to true.
   • Flag the debug option before running thee program.

[ Translations