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Synonyms

burgee

American  
[bur-jee, bur-jee] / ˈbɜr dʒi, bɜrˈdʒi /

noun

  1. a triangular flag or one having a shallow, angular indentation in the fly, forming two tails, used as an identification flag, especially by yachts.

burgee British  
/ ˈbɜːdʒiː /

noun

  1. nautical a triangular or swallow-tailed flag flown from the mast of a merchant ship for identification and from the mast of a yacht to indicate its owner's membership of a particular yacht club

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of burgee

1840–50; perhaps shortening of *burgee's flag, by reanalysis of *burgess flag, burgess translating French bourgeois in sense “owner” (of a ship)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Bertarelli's catamaran, sailing under the burgee of the Societe Nautique de Geneve from landlocked Switzerland, is the width of two tennis courts and has a tilting mast that towers 17 storeys high.

From Reuters • Feb. 4, 2010

I have a real sorrow to think that I could not fly the commodore's burgee while Sir James was still alive.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sir Arthur Henry Rostron, rescuer-hero of the Titanic disaster,* flew his newly-acquired Commodore's burgee from the mainmast as the Cunard flagship Berengaria entered New York harbor.

From Time Magazine Archive

Last known U. S. slave ship was The Wanderer, built as a yacht, the fastest craft flying the burgee of the New York Yacht Club.

From Time Magazine Archive

The broad pendant or "burgee" is a flag tapering slightly and of a swallow-tailed shape at the fly.

From Flags: Some Account of their History and Uses. by Macgeorge, Andrew

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.