white flag
19
2.7
- noun
- /waɪt flæɡ/
:
bandera blanca
- As the negotiations stalled, the general decided to raise a white flag to request a truce.
- white flag of surrender
Cause fuck, man, I've thrown in the white, I've raised the white flag, dude, many a times.
- Cause fuck, man, I've thrown in the white, I've raised the white flag, dude, many a times.
- Those voices and those voices don't let up and then we're in trouble and we need to raise the white flag because things are not well.
- Hindenburg said you are very much mistaken and Max said OK, if things are so bad, just raise the white flag in the field.
- Donald Trump has handed over and waved the white flag to a very weak Vladimir Putin.
- Like I say, like very easily could that be seen as someone who's waving the white flag.
- And I'm just want to use your show to wave the white flag and tell Clooney that I surrender because he's the master prankster.
Examples
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The soldiers raised a white flag to signal their surrender during the battle.
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If my terms are acceptable, instruct your Colonel to raise the white flag.
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Maybe it's time to raise the white flag and sell.
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It's the other side that has to wave the white flag now, it's over.
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Never wave the white flag of surrender in front of your students.
Academic text (2007) -
That's the white flag of surrender.
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The rebels just sent over another white flag with a demand to surrender Nashville!
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Raise the white flag!
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They're waving a white flag.
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Behind him, the soldier with the white flag smiled and waved it back and forth with increasing vigor.
Fiction book (2000)
Synonyms
3
4.9
A white flag shown to ask fighters to stop and start talks
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines 'white' + 'flag' so learners will understand it denotes a white piece of cloth, but the conventional pragmatic meaning 'to signal surrender or request a truce' depends on cultural convention rather than composition alone. Because the surrender meaning is widespread cross-linguistically it may be familiar to many learners, yet it is not fully predictable from the constituents, making the expression only partially transparent.
Etymology
White flag comes from the old practice of raising a plain white flag or cloth during battle to show you had given up or wanted the fighting to stop. That's why today white flag means 'surrender' or asking for a 'truce'.