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distress flag

American  

noun

  1. any flag flown by a vessel to show that it is in distress, as an ensign flown at half-mast or upside down.

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.

That marked the third distress flag on Kodak earnings this year and caused the company's stock to plunge $8.25 per share in two days.

From Time Magazine Archive

As the other whaling vessels answering the Brunswick's distress flag arrived, each vessel's master�as captains of commercial ships are usually called�came aboard to survey the damage.

From Time Magazine Archive

She subsisted on food that floated in from the wreck, until a passing schooner spotted the bright yellow dress she had hoisted as a distress flag.

From Time Magazine Archive

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.