Also 6–7 flagge. [? f. FLAG a.; cf. OF. flaquir to become flaccid. But prob. there is a mixture with an onomatopœic formation, expressing the same notion as flap, flack, but implying less energetic movement.]
1. intr. To hang down; to flap about loosely.
1545. [see FLAGGING ppl. a.].
1609. Bible (Douay), Exod. xxxix. 19. Which a lace of hyacinth ioyned, lest they should flagge loosely, and be moued one from the other, as our Lord commanded Moyses.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 178. Lest the heavy Breast should flag down too low, because a woman goes alwaies upright, they are knit and tyed by their whole Basis or Bottom to the bonie part of the Chest.
1655. Theophania, 2. He discovered a tall Ship, with her sails flaging about her masts.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, III. xviii.
| When the out-strain’d tent flags loosely, | |
| Within there is the embers’ cheerful glow. |
1818. Shelley, Rev. Islam, III. xvii.
| The peace of madness fled, and ah, too soon! | |
| A ship was lying on the sunny main; | |
| Its sails were flagging in the breathless noon. |
† b. To sink down heavily. Obs.
1617. Abp. Abbott, Descr. World, Peru, V iv. Which bedds are deuised of Cotten wooll, and hung vp betweene two trees … in the which flagging downe in the middle, men and their wiues and their children doe lie together.
† c. trans. To allow to droop; to hang down, drop (the head, ears, tail, etc.). Obs. Cf. 5.
1637. Heywood, Dial., Anna & Phillis, Wks. 1874, VI. 310.
| Looke how the Ducks mourne when they misse the male, | |
| No one but droopes her wings, and flags her tayle, | |
| But he once come, the pond with clamour rings, | |
| And you then see another face of things. |
1644. Quarles, The Shepheards Oracles, vii.
| Whereby I was compel’d | |
| To flag my sailes. |
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Celery, It warps and flags its Head too much.
1757. W. Thompson, R. N. Advoc., 20. Dogs that I have frequently offered returned Ships Provision to, have flaged their Tails, ran away, and would not even smell to it?
2. intr. To become limp or flaccid. Now only of plants: To droop, fade.
1611. Cotgr., Flestrir … to fade, wither; flag, droope.
1644. Digby, Nat. Bodies (1645), I. xii. § 4. 127. When the string [of a bow] beginneth to flag.
1667. Beale, in Phil. Trans., II. 424. The Cherry-Blossoms then flagging, but not much altering their Colour.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., II. iii. 92. The Lungs flag and become small again.
1767. Nat. Hist., in Ann. Reg., 106/1. Having made an aperture in the bladder, it flagged immediately of itself.
1846. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., VII. II. 523. The white crops flag, and the turnip-leaves turn yellow.
1860. Delamer, The Kitchen Garden, 79. They may be cut out with balls of matted fibres, and being then well watered, will scarcely flag at all.
† 3. intr. Of wings: To move feebly or ineffectually in attempting to fly. Of a bird: To move its wings feebly (in early use also trans. with wings as obj.); to fly unsteadily or near the ground. Obs.
1590. Spenser, F. Q. To Earl Essex.
| But when my Muse, whose fethers, nothing flitt, | |
| Doe yet but flagg, and lowly learne to fly. | |
| Ibid. (1596), Hymn Heav. Beauty, 30. | |
| Of the soare faulcon so I learne to flye, | |
| That flags awhile her fluttering wings beneath, | |
| Till she her selfe for stronger flight can breath. |
1603. B. Jonson, Sejanus, V. iii.
| Besides, in taking your last augurie, | |
| No prosperous bird appear’d, but croking ravens | |
| Flag’d up and downe. |
1624. Gataker, A Discussion of the Popish Doctrine of Transubstantiation, 220. Like eagles wee must soare aloft vp to heaven, and not flagge downeward, nor creepe below vpon the ground, if wee will come at Christs body.
1635. Cowley, Davideis, III. 329.
| Bless me! how swift and growing was his Wit? | |
| The Wings of Time flagg’d dully after it. |
fig. 1644. Bulwer, Chiron., 5. Speech divided from the Hand is unfound, and brought into a poore and low condition, flags and creeps upon the ground.
a. 1683. Oldham, Horace his Art of Poetry (1686), 3.
| Others, who fear to a bold pitch to trust | |
| Themselves, flag low, and humbly sweep the dust. |
a. 1764. Lloyd, Ode to Genius, Poet. Wks. 1774, II. 174.
| Whose nerveless strains flag on in languid tone, | |
| Lifeless and lumpish as the bagpipe’s drowzy drone. |
b. ? To fly level, without soaring; or perh. (after FLAG sb.4) to fly with long sweep of wing.
1846. Kingsley, Saint’s Trag., V. iii.
| And black against its sheeted gray, one bird | |
| Flags fearful onward—’T is his cursed soul! |
4. To become feeble or unsteady in flight. Hence in wider sense (in early use perh. consciously transf.): To be unable to maintain one’s speed; to lag, or fall into a halting pace, through fatigue; to become languid, lose vigour or energy.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, IV. xi. (1640), 188. No wonder then if the wings of that armie did quickly flag, having so heavy a weight of curses hanging upon them.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., II. v. (1845), 113. Too commonly our Resolutions flagg with our Joys, and those that a while before imagin’d they despis’d the World, find themselves Worsted, if not Captivated by it.
1691. Norris, Pract. Disc., 312. We shall be so far from flagging in our Duty.
1692. Locke, Educ., § 15. When Custom has fixed his Eating to certain stated Periods, his Stomach will expect Victuals at the usual Hour, and grow peevish if he passes it; either fretting itself into a troublesome Excess, or flagging into a downright Want of Appetite.
1745. De Foe’s Eng. Tradesman, vi. (1841), I. 44. His trade languishes, his credit by degrees flags and goes off, and the tradesman falls under the weight.
1780. Mad. D’Arblay, Lett., July. She does not suffer one’s attention to rest, much less to flag, for hours together.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. vi.
| ’Twere long to tell what steeds gave o’er … | |
| Who flagged upon Bochastle’s heath. |
1821. Shelley, Boat on Serchio, 94.
| The sails are full, the boat makes head | |
| Against the Serchio’s torrent fierce, | |
| Then flags with intermitting course, | |
| And hangs upon the wave. |
1853. Soyer, Pantropheon, 394. So soon as the major-domo perceived that appetite began to flag, he ordered the whole to be cleared.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xii. 127. The dogs began to flag; but we had to press them.
1874. L. Stephen, Hours in Library (1892), I. ii. 63. If he [Richardson] never spares an opportunity of giving us a lecture, at least his zeal in setting forth an example never flags for an instant.
b. Of an author, or his works, a diversion, game, conversation, etc.: To fall off in vigour or interest, to grow dull or languid.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 253. Though Aristotle do for the most part express, a great deal of Zeal and Confidence, for that Opinion of the Worlds Eternity, yet doth he sometimes for all that, seem to flag a little, and speak more Languidly and Sceptically about it.
1708. Swift, An Argument against Abolishing Christianity, Wks. 1755, III. 154. It were to be wished, that some other prohibitions were promoted, in order to improve the pleasures of the town; which for want of such expedients begin already, as I am told, to flag and grow languid, giving way daily to cruel inroads from the spleen.
1707. Gray, Let., Poems (1775), 325. The diction is elegant and unconstrained; not loaded with epithets and figures, nor flagging into prose; the versification is easy and harmonious.
1773. Mrs. Chapone, Improv. Mind (1774), II. 99. Not engrossing the talk, when others are desirous to speak, nor suffering the conversation to flag, for want of introducing something to continue or renew a subject.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., vi. When this topic flagged, he turned to the grey-headed gentleman, and asked if he could sing.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xlvii. (1889), 450. By degrees the cricket flagged, and most of the men went off to sit over their pipes, and finish the evening in their own way.
1881. Besant & Rice, Chapl. Fleet, I. 227. Come, gentlemen, we let the glasses flag.
† c. To flag in money: to be slow to pay it.
1608. Yorksh. Trag., B i a.
| Shall it be said in all societies, | |
| That I broke custome, that I flagd in monie? |
† 5. trans. a. lit. Of a bird, etc.: To cease to ply vigorously, relax the efforts of (its wings) from fatigue. Of conditions, circumstances, etc.; To render (the wings) incapable of soaring; to clog, impede. b. Hence To allow or cause to become languid; to be tardy in prosecuting (a purpose); to deprive of vigor, animation, or energy; to depress, enfeeble. Obs.
a. 1622. F. Markham, Bk. War, V. ix. 197. The minde like a couragious Hauke … if still it be ouerlaid with its owne toile, must of necessitie in the end either flag her wings or stoope to a faulse prey.
1687. Dryden, Hind & P., III. 509.
| Nor need they fear the dampness of the Sky | |
| Should flag their wings, and hinder them to fly, | |
| ’Twas onely water thrown on sails too dry. |
1709. Prior, Ode, iii.
| The Thousand Loves, that arm thy potent Eye, | |
| Must drop their Quivers, flag their Wings, and die. |
1715. Mrs. Barker, Exilius, I. 93. O good Gods, are you that signal Person, who so valiantly reliev’d our General, and thereby made Victory wait upon our Roman Eagles, who began to flag their Wings.
b. 1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., III. iii. Wks. 1856, I. 110. Ant. O, for thy sisters sake, I flagge revenge.
1656. S. Holland, Don Zara (1719), 140. What is this fruition we so much covet, but a kind of fulsome Recreation, that flags our Crests, and makes us look worse then stale Drunkards, or losing Gamesters that have sat up all night to undo themselves?
1670. Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 22. For although reading and thinking, breaks neither Legs nor Arms, yet certainly there is nothing that flags the Spirits, disorders the Blood, and enfeebles the whole Body of Man, as intense Studies.
1720. Welton, Suffer. Son of God, II. xxi. 571. How forcible this Wretched Spirit of contradiction is … to Quell and Flag the inclinations of doing Good.
1757. W. Thompson, R. N. Advoc., 9. By these Mistakes the bloody Brine remains in the Casks, and in Proportion to its Quantity, flags by its softer and raw Juices, the Strength of the Pickle, and gives it a strong and rank Smell, to the Prejudice of the Flesh.
c. To flag rein: to slacken speed, rare.
1848. Lytton, Harold, II. ii. Took ship from thy port of Cherbourg, and have not flagged rein, and scarce broken bread, till I could say to the heir of Rolf the Founder—Save thy realm from men of mail, and thy bride from the knaves of serge.
