| 释义 |
red flag
1. A red flag as a sign of battle, etc.
1602Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 233 What, dost summon a parlie, my little Drumsticke? tis too late: thou seest my red flag is hung out. 1666Lond. Gaz. No. 91/4 That the Red Flag was out, both Fleets in sight of each other, expecting every hour fit weather to Engage. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Flag, The red flag is a signal of defiance and battle. 1891Hulme Heraldry (1897) 271 Others were decking their houses with red flags, the symbols of revolution and bloodshed. a1895Ld. C. E. Paget Autobiog. (1896) iv. 98 [He came] to tell me that the [Russian] forts were in sight, and a red flag flying. ‘Odds bones!’ said I, ‘don't they mean to give any quarter, then?’
2. As a sign of danger, a warning, or a signal to stop. Also attrib. and fig.
1777P. Thicknesse Year's Journey I. iii. 23 There is a red flag hoisted gradually higher and higher, as the water flows into the harbour [at Calais]. 1856N.Y. Herald 12 Jan. 1/4 James Flood is road master of his section; any obstruction being on the track it is the duty of the flagman to exhibit his red flag. 1885C. M. Yonge Nuttie's Father I. xiii. 153 They went into a hole and stuck fast, while the red-flag traction engineman prodded her with an umbrella. 1908Kipling in Flag (Union Jack Club) 8 Thou didst flee up Cheepe, calling..for a red flag. 1968J. Updike Couples ii. 146 You're sore as hell about some silly thing, maybe Harold's snubbing you, maybe you have the red flag out, but you're right there. 1973‘C. Aird’ His Burial Too iii. 32 The roadmen went and got into a muddle with their flags... One of them..apparently gets a power complex every time anyone puts a red flag into his hand. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 17 June 2-a/4 Time and time again, Eizenstat addressed the members and urged them to avoid ‘red flag’ words or issues—such as homosexual rights, amnesty, opposition to capital punishment, full federalization of welfare costs. 1977Time 17 Oct. 39/3 He..warned present and future White House aides to be on the alert for ‘red flags’ of moral dilemmas that may arise while serving a President.
3. a. As a symbol of revolution, socialism, or communism, freq. spec. of Soviet Russian communism. Also attrib. and fig.
1848A. H. Clough Let. 26 Feb. in T. Arnold N.Z. Lett. (1966) 78 The Red Flag flying at Paris. 1857C. M. Yonge Dynevor Terrace I. xx. 322 Muskets and pikes were here and there seen, and once he recognized the sinister red flag. 1878Indianapolis Sentinel 23 May 4/6 We denounce the red flag communism imported from Europe. 1888E. Bellamy Looking Backward xxiv. 353 They were paid by the great monopolies to wave the red flag and talk about..blowing people up. 1889J. Connell in Justice 21 Dec. 3/2 Then raise the scarlet standard high! Within its shade we'll live and die! Though cowards flinch, and traitors jeer, We'll keep the Red Flag flying here! 1891[see red a. 4 b]. 1909Westm. Gaz. 19 Oct. 2/1 The Socialists who in such circumstances would be returned in many constituencies..would be the real thing, of the red-flag order. 1914Chesterton Flying Inn xxiii. 274 A very coarse strip of red rag..had been tied round the wooden sign-post by way of a red flag of revolution. 1922W. J. Locke Tale of Triona xvii. 199 The only positive ideal in England at the present moment is Bolshevism. The only flag waved..is the red flag. 1957Encycl. Brit. XIX. 711/1 In the urban centres the victory was won under the red flag of class warfare. 1967Guardian 4 Dec. 1/4 The purpose of the visit is political—to show the Red Flag over Cairo. 1973Times 21 Nov. 6/8 Red flag on Cunarder. The former Cunard liner Franconia..left Southampton yesterday flying the hammer and sickle. She was bought..by..the Far Eastern Steamship Company, of Vladivostock. 1974P. Gore-Booth With Great Truth & Respect 210 The country was infested with various hostiles, Red Flag Communists, White Flag Communists, Karens or simply dacoits. 1977Time 4 Apr. 24/3 There was little of the tedious Red-flag waving ‘revolutionary culture’ with which visitors to Peking are entertained.
b. the Red Flag: a socialist song by James Connell (see quot. 1889 above).
1909R. Brooke Let. 2 Jan. (1968) 154 Yes! yes! Herbert Samuel..is a Socialist... He used to sing The Red Flag after dinner every night instead of grace. 1935H. Nicolson Let. 1 Nov. (1966) 222 He..left the hall while they sang the Red Flag. 1968A. Diment Bang Bang Birds ix. 160 A covey of West German millionaires who were singing the Red Flag in a hypnotised dirge. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1976) II. 507 As an outgoing member I went down to the last debate and took part in singing the ‘Red Flag’ and ‘Auld Lang Syne’. 1976Whitaker's Almanack 1977 361/1 Labour M.P.s in their jubilation sang ‘The Red Flag’, shouted, and waved order papers in the air.
4. = red ensign s.v. red a. 19 a. See ensign 5.
1901W. C. Russell Ship's Adventure v. 78 He..had begun the sea life in the Royal Navy as midshipman, but..had quitted the white for the red flag.
Hence red ˈflagger, one who carries a red flag, a communist; red ˈflaggery, communist doctrines.
1920R. Macaulay Potterism ii. i. 54, I hate red-flaggery, and all other flaggery. 1921Times 4 Feb. 11/6 The common enemy..what Belfast of today calls the ‘red-flaggers’. 1923Glasgow Herald 23 June 8/3 That modest pattern which..Mr. Kirkwood is finding it so difficult to assimilate with Red Flaggery. 1934G. B. Shaw On Rocks ii. 231 That's the way to dish these Labor chaps and Red flaggers. |