flag-officer Naut.
[f. flag n.4 + officer.]
An officer who carries a flag. a. An admiral, vice-admiral, or rear-admiral. b. In U.S. navy 1857–1862 the official title of an officer in actual command of a squadron (Cent. Dict.).
| 1665 Evelyn Diary 30 June, I went on board the Charles, to which..came all the flag-officers to his Majesty. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 341 He formerly appointed the flag officers. 1806 A. Duncan Nelson 119 The rank of a flag-officer. 1859 in Gen. Navy Reg. U.S.A. (1888) 931 The commission of senior flag officer of the United States Navy. 1870 Colomb Let. Apr. in Fifteen Years Naval Retirement 5 Fifty Flag Officers is too few. |