ˈflag-staff, ˈflagstaff
Pl. (-staves), -staffs.
[f. flag n.4 + staff.]
A pole or staff on which a flag is hung.
| a 1613 Overbury Characters, Saylor Wks. (1856) 76 He..cannot sit unlesse he beare a flag-staffe. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. Ind. & P. 82 Flying the several Colours..on Flag-Staffs erected for that purpose. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Flag-staves. 1790 Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. II. 166 Hoist a red flag on the flag-staff. 1848 Dickens Dombey ix, It began with the erection of flag-staffs. |