top-flag

plural top-flags

1. obsoletenauticalA flag flown from the top of the mast of a sailing ship.

   1647, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, The Double Marriage, Act II, Scene 1, in The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, Edinburgh: John Ballantyne, 1812, Volume 8, p. 36, Duke. Of whence now? Sailor. Of Naples, Naples, Naples! I see her top-flag, how she quarters Naples.

   1 more example

   […] when he shall know it lies in vs, To banish him, and then to call him home, Twill make him vaile the topflag of his pride, And feare to offend the meanest noble man.

   1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page)