Dictionary

flag staff en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable) Alternative form of flagstaff.
   alt of flagstaff
   • Mr. Fife's party consisted of himself and six men; and after they had wandered for three days they observed the flag staff at a great distance. 2014, John Frederick Dennett, The Voyages and Travels of Captains Ross, Parry, Franklin, and Mr. Belzoni, page 34:
   • She is depicted with huge flags flying from temporary flag staffs above her newly completed hull: the red ensign flies at her stern, a small union flag at her bows; 2013, David Cordingly, Billy Ruffian:
   • The flag staves should be as much as two and a half or three inches in diameter, or what would be better, two strips of a board of that width, and seven or eight feet in length. 1841, Abel Flint, George Gillet, A system of geometry and trigonometry, page 104:
2. (countable, uncountable) A flag officer and his staff.
   • The conning tower was a relatively compact space, with curved walls to provide maximum strength, so it could accommodate only a handful of picked staff to support the Captain and, if flag staff were embarked, the Admiral. 2013, Jean Moulin, French Cruisers, 1922–1956:
   • Thirteen of the flag staff were dead, including three officers and ten enlisted men. 2014, Ken Jones, Hubert Kelly Jr., Admiral Arleigh (31-Knot) Burke:
   • They and a large percentage of the flag staff were standing on Maaka-Kakja 's spacious port bridge-wing while aircraft were trundled across the flight deck on launching trucks that would be hooked to the hydraulic catapults. 2014, Taylor Anderson, Deadly Shores, page 184:

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