Also 4–7 flagg(e, (5 flegge). [Of obscure origin; cf. Du. flag, occurring in Bible, 1637, Job viii. 11, margin (the Eng. Bible has the same word in this passage), also mod.Da. flæg (in Dansk Ordb., 1802, but not found in MDa., which has flæ, flæde in the same sense).]
1. One of various endogenous plants, with a bladed or ensiform leaf, mostly growing in moist places. Now regarded as properly denoting a member of the genus Iris (esp. I. pseudacorus) but sometimes (as in early use) applied to any reed or rush.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 157. Þere herdes fond hym among mory flagges and sprayes, and sente hym to Sllla.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 165. Flegge, infra in S. idem quod Sedge.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), Q. The drye flaxe will brenne in the fyre, and the grene flagge smoke in the flame.
1563. B. Googe, Eglogs, viii. (Arb.), 64.
| Euen he that kept the Prophet safe, | |
| from mouthes of Lyons wylde,And he that once preserued in Flags, | |
| the sely suckyng Chylde. |
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, II. 26. The chiefe root they haue for food is called Tockawhoughe. It groweth like a flagge in Marishes.
1763. Churchill, Duellist, I.
| Shall men like these unmentioned sleep | |
| Promiscuous with the common heap… | |
| In shoals, unnoticed and forgot, | |
| On Lethe’s stream, like flags, to rot? |
1842. Guide to Trade, Cooper, 74. A flag or rush should be put round the groove.
1873. G. C. Davies, Mount. & Mere, ii. 6. Gazing with a feeling akin to awe at the black water, the tall rushes and flags, and the belt of fir-trees that encircled three sides of it.
b. With words indicating the species, as garden flag (Iris germanica); sweet smelling flag, spicewort (Acorus Calamus); water flag, yellow flag (Iris pseudacorus). Also CORN-FLAG.
1550. H. Llwyd, The Treasury of Health (1585), E iv b. The ioyce of yeolowe flagge put into thine eare is of the same operation.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. xxxv. 193. That kinde [of Iris] whose flower is purple and blewe is called … of some … garden flagges.
1580. Baret, Alv., F 639. The water Flagge, or the yellowe wild Iris.
1640. Parkinson, Theat. Bot., I. xlviii. 139. The sweet smelling Flagge.
1831. J. Davies, Manual Mat. Med., 373. The American Blue Flag, Iris versicolor.
c. In pl. or collect. sing. A kind of coarse grass.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., I. 185. The hay of our low meadows is … also more rooty, foggy and full of flags.
1639. Horn & Rob., Gate Lang. Unl., xxxii. § 387. Arable ground being brought into good tilth, and cleared from the roots of the flag, that it may be more battle and fruitfull.
1847. Halliwell, Flag … also applied to the small pieces of coarse grass common in some meadows.
1878–86. Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Flag (3)…. Probably Aira cæspitosa L.
¶ d. Used for ALGA. Obs.
1778. Milne, Bot. Dict., Algæ, Flags.
1807. J. E. Smith, Phys. Bot., 402. Cryptogamia Algæ, Flags, whose herb is likewise a frond, and whose seeds are imbedded, either in its very substance, or in the disk of some appropriate receptacle.
2. The blade or long slender leaf of a plant, e.g., of Iris and of cereals.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. xxxv. 193. The narrow leaved Ireos, his flagges be long and narrowe.
1599. T. M[oufet], Silkwormes, 34.
| When looke, as costliest spice is in small bagges, | |
| And little springs do send foorth cleerest flouds, | |
| And sweetest Iris beareth shortest flagges, | |
| And weakest Osiers bind vp mighty woods. |
1750. W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., II. i. 38. This Oat has not only a strong large Stalk and Ear to nourish, but also a broad Flag besides.
1850. Bromfield, in Phytologist, III. 1006. The green leaves [of Typha latifolia] are collected, and after drying in the sun are used in this county instead of bulrushes, for mats, chair-bottoms and basket-work, under the name of flags.
1880. Jefferies, Gt. Estate, 8. The wheat was then showing a beautiful flag, the despised oats were coming out in jag, and the black knots on the delicate barley straw were beginning to be topped with the hail.
† 3. ? = flag-basket. Obs.
1640. in Entick, London (1766), II. 182. For every twenty sugar flags 0 4d.
1812. J. Smyth, Pract. of Customs, 23. Annotto, Package tared, and 6 per Cent. allowed for Flags.
4. attrib. and Comb. as flag-bed, -flower; flag-bottomed, -fenced, † -shaggy adjs. Also flag-basket dial., a basket made of reeds, chiefly used by workmen for carrying their tools; ? flag-broom (see FLAG sb.2 5); flag-leaf, an iris; flag-reed (see quot.); flag-worm, a worm found in the roots of flags and used by anglers.
1859. Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, 262. Emptying his tools out of the *flag-basket.
1656. Trapp, Comm., Eph. vi. 4. Their poor children, which like Moses in the *Flag-bed, are ready to perish, if they have not help.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxviii. 96. Furniture, including a dozen *flag-bottomed chairs.
1878. Smiles, Robt. Dick, vii. 79. Beyond them the *flag-fenced fields in the distance.
1753. Chambers, Cycl., Supp., *Flag-flower. See Iris.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, XI. xxxiv.
| The flag-flower blossom’d on its side, | |
| The willow tresses waved. |
1827. Clare, The Shepherd’s Calendar, May, 53.
| And mint and *flagleaf, swording high | |
| Their blooms to the unheeding eye. |
1833. Sturt, S. Australia, II. vii. 181. The reeds are the broad *flag-reed (arundo phragmatis), and grow on a stiff earthy loam, without any accompanying vegetation.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. IV. Captains, 123.
| There th’ aged Floud layd on his mossie bed, | |
| And pensive leaning his *flag-shaggie head | |
| Upon a Tuft. |
1653. Walton, Angler, 178. I doubt not but that he will, also in the three hot months (for in the nine colder he stirs not much) bite at a *Flag-worm, or at a green Gentle.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 19. Flag-worms, or Dock-worms. Found among flags.
