Flag

Flag , v. t. To decoy (game) by waving a flag, handkerchief, or the like to arouse the animal's curiosity.

The antelope are getting continually shyer and more difficult to flag.

Flag , n. (Zoöl.) One of the wing feathers next the body of a bird; -- called also flag feather.

Flag , v. t. To lay with flags of flat stones.

The sides and floor are all flagged with . . . marble.

Flag , n. [Icel. flaga, cf. Icel. flag spot where a turf has been cut out, and E. flake layer, scale. Cf. Floe.]

1. A flat stone used for paving. Woodward.

2. (Geol.) Any hard, evenly stratified sandstone, which splits into layers suitable for flagstones.

Flag , v. t. To furnish or deck out with flags.

Flag , n. [From Flag to hang loose, to bend down.]

(Bot.) An aquatic plant, with long, ensiform leaves, belonging to either of the genera Iris and Acorus.

Cooper's flag, the cat-tail (Typha latifolia), the long leaves of which are placed between the staves of barrels to make the latter water-tight. -- Corn flag. See under 2d Corn. -- Flag broom, a coarse of broom, originally made of flags or rushes. -- Flag root, the root of the sweet flag. -- Sweet flag. See Calamus, n., 2.

Flag , v. t. [From Flag an ensign.]

1. To signal to with a flag; as, to flag a train.

2. To convey, as a message, by means of flag signals; as, to flag an order to troops or vessels at a distance.

Flag , n. [Cf. LG. & G. flagge, Sw. flagg, Dan. flag, D. vlag. See Flag to hang loose.]

1. That which flags or hangs down loosely.

2. 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; as, the national flag; a military or a naval flag.

3. (Zoöl.) (a) A group of feathers on the lower part of the legs of certain hawks, owls, etc. (b) A group of elongated wing feathers in certain hawks. (c) The bushy tail of a dog, as of a setter.

Black flag. See under Black. -- Flag captain, Flag leutenant, etc., special officers attached to the flagship, as aids to the flag officer. -- Flag officer, the commander of a fleet or squadron; an admiral, or commodore. -- Flag of truse, a white flag carried or displayed to an enemy, as an invitation to conference, or for the purpose of making some communication not hostile. -- Flag share, the flag officer's share of prize money. -- Flag station (Railroad), a station at which trains do not stop unless signaled to do so, by a flag hung out or waved. -- National flag, a flag of a particular country, on which some national emblem or device, is emblazoned. -- Red flag, a flag of a red color, displayed as a signal of danger or token of defiance; the emblem of anarchists. -- To dip, the flag, to mlower it and quickly restore it to its place; -- done as a mark of respect. -- To hang out the white flag, to ask truce or quarter, or, in some cases, to manifest a friendly design by exhibiting a white flag. -- To hang the flag half-mast high or half- staff, to raise it only half way to the mast or staff, as a token or sign of mourning. -- To strike, or lower, the flag, to haul it down, in token of respect, submission, or, in an engagement, of surrender. -- Yellow flag, the quarantine flag of all nations; also carried at a vessel's fore, to denote that an infectious disease is on board.

Flag (flăg), v. t. 1. To let droop; to suffer to fall, or let fall, into feebleness; as, to flag the wings. prior.

2. To enervate; to exhaust the vigor or elasticity of.

Nothing so flags the spirits.

Flag (flăg), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flagged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Flagging (?).]

[Cf. Icel. flaka to droop, hang loosely. Cf. Flacker, Flag an ensign.] 1. To hang loose without stiffness; to bend down, as flexible bodies; to be loose, yielding, limp.

As loose it [the sail] flagged around the mast.

2. To droop; to grow spiritless; to lose vigor; to languish; as, the spirits flag; the streugth flags.

The pleasures of the town begin to flag.

Syn. -- To droop; decline; fail; languish; pine.