flag 
a rear-admiral at the mi/./.en. In the United States navy 
admirals' Mags are lilue, \\ith four, three, nr In., stars, 
according to rank. When (he 1'ivsidciit goes afloat, the 
national Hag is displayed in the bow of his barge, or at 
the main of the man-of-war which receives him. In the 
liritish navy the supreme Hag is I he rojal standard, which 
is to lit- hoisted only when the sovereign or one of the 
royal family is on hoard; the second flag has an anchor 
on a red ground, ami charae!eri/cs the lord high admiral 
or lords commissioners of (he admiralty; and the third 
is the union or national flag, in which the crosses of St. 
Ceorge, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick (the patron saints 
of England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively) are blend- 
ed. This flag is appropriated to the admiral of the fleet. 
(See *'/;*/'///. and futon /hut. underun&m.) The flag of the 
United States has since 1818 consisted of thirteen horizon- 
tal 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 puhlic buildings to show that they are open for 
business, or (as on the Capitol at Washington) that a legis- 
lative body is there in session. So, formerly, play-houses 
exhibited Hags on their roofs when there were perform- 
ances at them. When the players were out of employ- 
ment, they were said to be flag-fallen (which see). 
'Twas a shame, no less 
Than 'tivas his loss, to course your Hying flags, 
And leave his navy gazing. Shak., A. and C., iii. 11. 
The hair about the hat is as good as a flag upon the pole 
at a common play-house to waft company. 
Middleton, Mad World. 
Flags, flutter out upon turrets and towers ! 
Tennyson, Welcome to Alexandra. 
2f. The wing or pinion of a bird. [Poetical.] 
Like as the haggard, cloister'd in her mew, 
To scour her downy robes and to renew 
Her broken flags, . . . 
Jets oft from perch to perch. 
Quarlen, Emblems, iii. 1. 
3. In a glass-furnace having a grate-room in 
each end, a part of the bed intervening be- 
tween the two grate-rooms and serving as a 
partition between them. 4. In ornith., the 
tuft of long feathers on the leg of falcons and 
most other hawks ; the lengthened feathers on 
the crus or tibia. Coues. 5. In sporting, the 
tail of a deer or of a setter dog. 
The setter's flag should have a gentle sweep. 
Dogs of Great Britain and America, p. 101. 
Quarters slightly sloping, and flay set on rather low, but 
straight, flne in bone, and beautifully carried. 
Sportsman's Gazetteer, p. 417. 
6. In music. See pennant and Aoofc Black flag, 
a flag either of plain black or bearing some device asso- 
ciated with pirates and piracy, also with warfare when no 
quarter is to be given : a phrase used loosely to denote 
such warfare, or the intention, or avowed intention, of 
resorting to it. Black Flags. See black. Bloody flag. 
See red flag, below. Boat flag, in whaling, a waif. 
Flag of distress, any flag displayed as a signal of dis- 
tress. When so used it is generally displayed upside 
down (called union down), or is hoisted only half-way to 
its usual place (called half-mast). Flag of protection. 
See yellow flag and white flag. Flag of truce, a white 
flag displayed as an invitation to the enemy to confer, or 
one carried by an officer sent to communicate with the 
enemy. During an engagement the bearer may be refused 
admittance into the lines, or he may be held. A flag of 
truce is regarded as especially sacred in character and 
significance, and any abuse of its privileges, as for the 
purpose of surreptitiously procuring military informa- 
tion, is condemned as an offense of peculiar heinousness. 
In naval engagements a flag of truce is met at a suitable 
distance by a boat from the senior officer's ship, in charge 
of a commissioned officer, and having a white flag plainly 
displayed from the time of leaving until her return. 
Garrison flag, a large flag furnished to the principal mili- 
tary posts iu the United States, to be displayed on occa- 
sions of national importance. Knight of the square 
flag. See 6anre<2. Red flag, (a) A flag of a red color 
with or without devices, associated with blood or danger : 
(1) The Roman signal for battle ; hence, to hang out the 
red or bloody flag is often used, especially by earlier writ- 
ers, to signify a challenge to battle. 
When you are hearing a matter between party and party, 
if yon chance to be pinched with the colic, you . . . set 
up the bloody flag against all patience. Shak., Cor., ii. 1. 
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flan. 
Shak., Hen. V., i. 2. 
(2) The recognized standard or symbol of an extreme revo- 
lutionary party, or of those who seek social as well as po- 
litical revolution or anarchy : as, the red flag of the Com- 
mune. (3) A signal displayed by boats carrying powder, 
and by ships of war when they are shipping or discharging 
powder. (4) A danger-signal in target-practice and on 
railways ; used on the latter to bring trains to a stand. 
At every one of them [the stations] on the route a man 
popped out . . . and waved a red flag, and appeared as 
though he would like to have us stop. But we were an ex- 
press train. T. B. Aldrich, Bad Boy, p. SI. 
(b) A piece of red flannel used as a lure for fish, (c) The 
bloody spout of a dying whale. To dip the flag, to lower 
the flag and then hoist it again, as a token of respect or 
courtesy. -To heave a flag aboard (naut.), to hang it 
out. [Archaic or obsolete.] To hoist a flag at half- 
mast, to raise a flag half-way up to its usual place as a 
token or signal of mourning. To strike or lower the 
flag, to pull down the flag in token of surrender. White 
flag, a flag of pure white material, with or without a de- 
vice, used to denote a peaceable disposition or intention, 
to secure from molestation iu time of war. 
2247 
iiy the semblance 
Of their while flays display'd, they bring us peace. 
Shak., Pericles, 1. 4. 
Yellow flag, a flag of a yellow color used as a sanitary sig- 
nal. It is displayed on a vessel to show that contagious 
or infectious disease exists on board, or that the ship or 
boat has been placed in quarantine ; over the bouse, ship, 
or boat which serves as the residence of a quarantine of- 
ficer; and in time of war to indicate hospitals or other 
houses containing the sick or wounded, that the enemy 
may refrain from tiring on them. In this case it is called 
the flag of pro'i'i-rim/. 
flag^ (flag), t\ t. ; pret. and pp. flagged, ppr. 
flagging. [< flag 2 , *.] 1. To place a flag over 
or on: as, to flag a house. 
At thy firmest age 
Thou liadst within thy bole solid contents 
That might have rilib'd the sides and plank'd the deck 
Of some flagg'd admiral [ship]. Camper, Yardley Oak. 
I was directed by him to vaccinate, flag premises where 
the disease existed, and to send those afflicted with the 
disease to the hospital. Sanitarian, XIV. 318. 
2. To signal or warn by the use of a flag: as, 
to flag a train or a steamboat. 3. To decoy, 
as game, by waving some object like a flag to 
excite attention or curiosity. 
One method of hunting them [antelopes] is to take ad- 
vantage of it [their curiosity], and flag them up to the 
hunters by waving a red handkerchief, or some other ob- 
ject, to and fro in the air. 
T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, p. 194. 
flag 3 (flag), n. [Early mod. E. flagge; < ME. 
'flagge, flegge = Dan. flceg, flag ; prob. ult. the 
same as flag 2 , as that which flutters in the 
wind: see flag 2 , .] One of various endoge- 
nous plants with sword-shaped leaves, mostly 
growing in moist places ; particularly, the com- 
mon species of Iris, as the yellow flag or water- 
flag of England (/. Pseudacorus), the white flag 
(/. Germanica), and blue flags of the United 
States, as /. versicolor and I. nrismatiea. The cat- 
tail-flag is Typha lattfolia and other species; the corn- 
flag of Europe, Gladiolus segetum, etc. ; the sweet-flag, 
Acorns Calamus. The cattail-flag is used by coopers to 
tighten the seams of flsh-barrels. The term flag is also 
applied to the broad-leafed fixed seaweeds. 
At the west end there groweth the greatest store of 
flagges, in a marish soile, . . . that ever I saw in my life. 
Coryat, Crudities, I. 142. 
My spaniel, prettiest of his race, . . . 
Now wantou'd lost in flags and reeds. 
Coicper, Dog and Water-Lily. 
There, with its waving blade of green, 
The sea-flag streams through the silent water. 
J. G. Percinal, The Coral Grove. 
; 3 (flag), v. t.; pret. and pp. flagged, ppr. flag- 
ging. [(flag 3 , tt.] To tighten the seams of (a 
barrel) by means of flags. See flag 3 , n. Encyc. 
Brit., IX. 259. 
flag 4 (flag), n. [< ME. flagge, turf, sod, < Icel. 
flag, the spot where a piece of turf has been 
cut ont,flaga, a flag or slab of stone, lit. a ' flake ' 
(cf . flagna, flake off, as skin or slough, flakna, 
flake off, split) : see flake 1 , flaw 1 , flay 1 , floe.] 1. 
A piece of turf ; a sod. [Prov. Eng.] 
Turfe of flagge, sward of the erthe, cespes, terricidium. 
Prompt. Parv., p. 606. 
The dibbler, who walks backwards, and turning the dib- 
bles partly round, . . . makes two holes on each flag, at 
the distance of three inches the length way of the flag. 
A. Hunter, Georgical Essays, II. 355. 
2. A flat stone used for paving. 3. A flake 
of snow. [Prov. Eng.] 4. A tuft of coarse 
grass. [Prov. Eng.] Caithness flags, series of 
dark, bituminous, durable, slightly micaceous and cal- 
careous fiaggy beds of the lower Old Red system of Scot- 
land. They abound in fossil fishes and remains of land- 
plants, and are much used for flagging. The name is de- 
rived from Caithness in Scotland, where this form is well 
exemplified. 
flag 4 (flag),v. t. ; pret. and pp. flagged, ppr. flag- 
ging. [< flag*, n. ] To lay or pave with flags 
or flat stones. 
The sides and floore were all flagged with excellent 
marble. Sandys, Travailes, p. 25. 
flag 5 (flag), . [Perhaps a particular use of 
flag 2 .] A groat; fourpence. [Thieves' cant.] 
The orator pulled out a tremendous black doll, bought 
for a flag (fourpence) of a retired rag-merchant, and 
dressed up in Oriental style. 
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor. 
flag-bearer (flag'bar"er), n. One who bears a 
flag. The word does not, like the terms standard-bearer, 
pennon-bearer, gonfalonier, ensign, comet, and the like, 
convey the idea of military rank or of permanent office or 
appointment. 
flag-captain (flag'kap'tan), n. Naut., the chief 
of an admiral's staff; the commanding officer 
of a flag-ship : same as fleet captain (which see, 
under captain). 
flagella, n. Plural of flagellum. 
flagellant (flaj'e-lant),. andw. [=F. flagellant 
= Sp. flagelante = Pg. It. flagellante, < L. flagel- 
flagellate 
lan(t-)s, ppr. of flageUarc, whip, scourge: see 
flagellate 1 .'] I. a. Given to flagellation, or the 
use of the rod; flagellating. 
We find far more of hope and promise in tl>e broad free 
sketcjies of the A<:,i,-ll<n,< head master of Eton and the 
bibulous Bishop of Bath and Wells. 
A.. C. Sirialiiirni', Shakespeare, ]>. 27. 
II. n. One who whips or scourges himself for 
religious discipline ; specifically, in hist., one of 
a body of religious persons who believed they 
could thus appease the divine wrath against 
their sins and the sins of the age. An associa- 
tion of flagellants founded in Italy about 1260 spread 
throughout Europe, its members marching in processions, 
publicly scourging their own bare bodies till the blood ran. 
Having by these practices given rise to great disorders, 
they were suppressed ; but the same scenes were repeated 
on a larger scale in 1348 and several subsequent years, in 
consequence of the desolating plague called the "black 
death." These flagellants claimed for their scourgings the 
virtue of all the sacraments, and promulgated other here- 
sies. There have been also fraternities of flagellants au- 
thorized by the Roman Catholic Church. Some flagellants 
have held doctrines opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, 
and approximating those of Protestantism. 
When, from the corruptness of its ministry, religion 
has lost its influence, as it did just before the Flagellants 
appeared, the State has been endangered. 
H. Spencer, Universal Progress, p. 86. 
flagellar (fla-jel'ar), a. [< flagellum + -rr.] 
In entom., pertaining to the flagellum of an an- 
tenna : as, flagellar joints. 
Flagellaria (flaj-e-la'ri-a), n. [NL., < L. flagel- 
lum, a whip, scourge, + -aria."] A genus of en- 
dogenous plants, typical of the order Flagella- 
They are herbaceous climbers, with long, narrow 
leaves terminated by tendrils, panicles of persistent-col- 
ored flowers, and one-seeded, drupe-like fruit. There are 
only two species, of India and Australia respectively, of 
which F. Indiea is widely spread through the tropics of 
the old world. 
Flagellarieae (flaj'^-la-ri'i-e), n. pi. [NL., < 
Flagellaria + -eai.~\ An order of endogenous 
plants, intermediate between the Uliacca; and 
the Juncaeeai, found in the tropical regions of 
the old world. It includes 3 genera and 6 or 7 
species. See Flagellaria. 
Flagellata (flaj-e-la'ta), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. 
of flagellalus : see flagellate 1 , a.] A primary 
group of Infusoria, as distinguished from the 
Tentaculifera, or AcinettE, and from the Ciliata. 
They are minute organisms of monadifonn structure and 
character, provided not with cilia proper or with tentacles, 
but with a long whip-like flagellum, or with two or more 
flagella, which may be situated together at one end of the 
body, or be widely separated. There are generally an 
A Colony of Cercomottas ttrmo, a typical flagellate infusorian, 
magnified 300 times. 
endoplast and a contractile vacuole, but no permanent 
oral aperture, though there is an oral region of the body 
constituting the food-vacuole, by which food enters along 
with a globule of water. The flagella are locomotory or- 
gans. The cell of which a flagellate infusorian mainly 
consists differs much in form in the different genera, be- 
ing sometimes prolonged around the base of the fiagellum 
like a collar, and the whole animal may have a calycine 
investment. The flagella of the same animal may differ 
much, one being stout and only occasionally moved, the 
other forming a delicate cilium in constant vibration. 
The Flagellata multiply by various methods of fission and 
sporulation, and also by conjugation. Also called Masti- 
gophora. Flagellata discostomata. Same as CToano- 
flagellata. Flagellata eustomata, an order of animal- 
cules possessing one or more flagelliform appendages, but 
no locomotive organs in the form of cilia, a distinct oral 
aperture or cytostome invariably developed, multiplying 
by longitudinal or transverse fission, or by the subdivi- 
sion of a whole or part of the body-substance into sporular 
elements. Flagellata pantostomata, an order of ani- 
malcules simply flagelliferous, having in their character- 
istic adult state no supplementary lobate or ray-like pseu- 
dopodic appendages, oral or ingestive area entirely unde- 
fined, food-substances being incepted indifferently at all 
points of the periphery. 
flagellate 1 (flaj'e-lat), v. t.-. pret. and pp. flagel- 
lated, ppr. flagellating. [< L. flagellatvs, pp. of 
flagellare (> It. flagellare = Pg. Pr. flagellar = 
F. flageller), whip, scourge, lash, < flagellum, a 
whip, scourge (whence E. flail, q. v.), dim. of 
flagrum, a whip, scourge ; perhaps akin to E. 
Wow 3 .] To whip ; scourge. 
