half-staff
7
7.1
- noun
- /hæf stæf/
- Formal
:
a media asta
- Another tradition is to fly the U.S. flag at half-staff from dawn until noon local time.
- flag at half-staff
- lowered to half-staff
- half-staff to honor
Examples
-
All district schools will fly their flags at half-staff; many will observe a moment of silence to begin the school day, and some schools will hold formal ceremonies.
Blog text (8) -
Neutral Portugal, for example, declared two days of national mourning, and flags were flown at half-staff.
Fiction book (1990) -
Flags should've been ordered to half-staff immediately.
Blog text (15) -
Still, he should lie in state in the Capitol rotunda, and Obama should order flags to half-staff for a day or two.
Blog text (1) -
In honor of Smith, the Navajo Nation flag will be flown at half-staff until sundown on Nov. 4.
Blog text (18) -
New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie has ordered flags lowered to half-staff for Houston's funeral Saturday.
Blog text (16) -
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced plans for a moment of silence in the House and ordered flags at half-staff.
Blog text (8) -
In the background, an American flag flies at half-staff in tribute to the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died in Warm Springs, Ga., on April 12.
Blog text (11) -
At the football game Friday at Pittston Area—coincidentally against Hazleton Area—flags were lowered to half-staff, and the public address announcer asked for a moment of silence to honor the students lost from those schools.
Blog text (12) -
Flags at the U.S. Capitol were flown at half-staff to honor the late civil rights leader.
Synonyms
5
3.8
A flag placed partway down its pole to show mourning or respect
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Half-staff comes from a simple image: half means 'halfway' and staff means 'pole' or 'stick', like a walking staff. So a flag at half-staff is raised only partway up the pole as a sign of mourning or distress.