to flag down
14
3.3
- phrasal verb
- /flæɡ daʊn/
- Informal
:
hacer señas a
- Flag down a passing car or something!
- flagged down a taxi
- flagged down a cab
- flag down cars
All right, so he was trying to flag people down and nobody would stop.
- All right, so he was trying to flag people down and nobody would stop.
- So I flag them down and I say, yeah, here's the phone number.
- So they send me a cab driver that is aware and knows it's coming, but trying to flag them down on the streets.
Examples
-
Lonnie, go on down to the main road, try to flag a car down, get some help up here.
-
I waved my hand to flag down the passing taxi.
-
All right, so he was trying to flag people down and nobody would stop.
-
Now we gotta flag this car down.
-
How else was I supposed to flag you down?
-
Honey, I think you better try and flag somebody down.
-
Get out to the road, flag down anyone you see... ...tell them to get the cops out here right away.
-
When we needed a car, it was always my job to flag one down.
Fiction book (2001) -
If I see someone, I'll flag them down.
-
Now let's flag down a car.
Synonyms
14
5.5
To signal someone by waving a piece of cloth
To call or wave for a taxi to stop for you
Antonyms
How Direct
Surface Forms
Morphology
flag + down
The verb 'flag' already means to signal or wave to attract attention, and the particle 'down' only adds a directional/targeting nuance rather than an idiomatic shift. The combined sense 'to signal (a vehicle/person) to stop' is directly derivable from the constituents and parallels transparent combinations like 'wave down', so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Flag down comes from the simple picture of waving a small flag or your hand at the road to stop a passing vehicle. Because you wave something down to make it stop, flag down now means 'to signal a vehicle or person to stop'.