black flag
1
6.5
- noun
- /blæk flæɡ/
:
bandera negra
- Have I no captain who can raise a black flag on occasion?
- flying a black flag
Examples
-
Bring out the black flag and fly it.
-
Raise the black flags, children.
-
That same year, cars burned in Paris, and the anarchists waved black flags.
Fiction book (1993) -
This one showed a rippling black flag emblazoned with a white skull and crossbones.
Fiction book (1996) -
The pirate ship was easily recognized by the black flag flying at its mast, adorned with a white skull and crossbones.
-
When the navy encountered the black flag, they knew they were facing a pirate vessel.
-
As we approached the shore, we spotted a black flag waving in the breeze, signaling the presence of pirates nearby.
Synonyms
2
8.1
A black flag with a white skull and crossbones flown by pirates to show they will attack
1
3.7
Sailors who steal from ships fly a black flag with a white skull and crossbones
1
9.4
A black flag with a white skull and crossbones used by pirates
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines 'black' + 'flag' so a B1 learner will immediately understand it denotes a flag that is black; that compositional sense is transparent. However, the specific conventional meaning of a pirate flag (white skull and crossbones) is a cultural/historical association not directly predictable from the words alone, so the specialised symbolic sense requires prior exposure.
Etymology
The noun black flag comes from pirates who raised a dark black flag with a skull and crossbones to show they would give no mercy. The dark colour and the skull meant 'death' and 'danger', so seeing a black flag meant a ship was under threat.