crack the flags

verb

Of the sun or sunshine: to beat down very strongly; to be extremely hot.

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Meanings

verbcrack the flags (third-person singular simple present cracks the flags, present participle cracking the flags, simple past and past participle cracked the flags)

present singular third person cracks the flags · participle present cracking the flags · participle past cracked the flags · past cracked the flags

  1. NorthernUKcolloquialOf the sun or sunshine: to beat down very strongly; to be extremely hot.

    Early summer sunshine threatened to crack the flags outside.

    1998, Julia Wild, Blue Silk Promise, page 80
    4 more examples

    I was apprehensive, feeling butterflies, pissed, the sun cracking the flags.

    2005, Andrew Porter, Suicide Squad: The Inside Story of a Football Firm

    […] plus the sun was still cracking the flags as we headed back to Geneva.

    2008, Dave Spencer, A Smudge on My Lens, page 276

    The sun's hot enough to crack the flags and there's not a cloud in sight.

    2010, Maureen Lee, The House By Princes Park

    'Tis fit to crack the flags so you'll not be wantin' your brolly.

    2012, Audrey Howard, There is No Parting

Origin

See flag (“a flagstone”); the idea is that the extreme heat might cause paving-stones to split.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

crack the flags. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crack%20the%20flags

MLA

“crack the flags.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crack%20the%20flags. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crack the flags,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crack%20the%20flags.

Source: crack the flags on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.