ˈflagship, n. (a.)
Also flag-ship.
[f. flag n.4 + ship n.]
1. A ship bearing an admiral's flag.
| 1672 Lond. Gaz. No. 684/4 We..believe there are several other sunk, and amongst the rest a Flagship. 1740 Johnson Life Blake Wks. IV. 369 With the loss of one flagship, and six other men of war. 1887 Spectator 30 July 1019/1 The ‘Inflexible’, the flagship for the Admiral. |
2. a. transf. and fig. A leader; something that is or is held to be the best of its kind; spec. the major product, model, etc., in a company's range.
| 1933 M. Arlen Man's Mortality xiii. 261 Knut Helgar sat drinking lager in the control-room of his flagship, I. A. Valkyr [sc. an aircraft]. 1955 Wall St. Jrnl. 13 Jan. 3/1 ‘Flagship’ of the network is..what Allied calls ‘the greatest regional shopping center the nation has ever seen’. 1968 Listener 23 May 669/1 The Mirror in the past has always been the Fleet Street flagship of the Socialist party. 1976 Milestones Winter 31/1 BMW's largest six-cylinder range... Engine sizes range from the 2500 up to the 3.3-litre unit fitted to this, their flagship. 1985 Listener 14 Feb. 3/3 The flagship of the devolution strategy, the resiting of one of London's four publicly funded symphony orchestras in Nottingham, seems stuck in the Thames mud. |
b. attrib. or as adj. Representing the leading product, etc., in a range; specially promoted.
| 1977 Listener 20 Oct. 502/1 Flagship programmes on BBC TV were offered as remedies. 1978 Daily Tel. 4 Oct. 14/5 Opel's new flagship model, the three-litre Monza coupé. 1981 Times 7 Dec. 13/8 THF's flagship hotel, Grosvenor House. 1985 Truck & Driver June 18/4 They now found themselves short of flagship trucks to sell. |