Old Glory
3
3.7
- noun
- /oʊld ˈɡlɔri/
:
Vieja Gloria
- Old Glory, a symbol of freedom.
- fly Old Glory
- wave Old Glory
- raise Old Glory
Examples
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Old Glory waves to show
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"There's the American flag," Claire said when she spotted the little Old Glory left by Armstrong, with its horizontal batten to make it wave.
Fiction book (2001) -
When we see Old Glory flying -
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Why Old Glory waves to show How far along we've come 'til now
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That majority is mad at seeing its flag and all that Old Glory represents being trashed by barbarians.
Blog text (31) -
Old Glory flies from my flagpole every day. On Memorial Day, my father's casket flag will fly from that pole again.
Blog text (11) -
Every July 4th, we proudly display Old Glory at our family barbecue.
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During the parade, the crowd cheered as Old Glory waved in the breeze.
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She felt a sense of pride whenever she saw Old Glory flying high above the city.
Synonyms
56
1.0
A piece of cloth that stands for the United States with thirteen stripes and fifty stars
9
2.3
The national flag of the United States with stars and horizontal stripes
7
3.4
The national flag of the United States with stars and stripes that stands for the country
3
1.3
A piece of cloth that officially represents a country
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning ‘a nickname for the US national flag’ is not compositional from 'old' (age/familiar) and 'glory' (honor); it is a conventional, culturally specific proper name whose referent must be learned. Because it functions as an established label rather than a predictable combination of meanings, B1 learners who only know the constituent words would not reliably infer it.
Etymology
Old Glory comes from a popular story about a sea captain, William Driver, who in the 1830s loved his large American flag and called it Old Glory. People liked the name, so Old Glory became a common nickname for the 'national flag' and a symbol of pride.