Flag

A flag is usually a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.

The first flags were used to assist military coordination on battlefields, and flags have since evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is similarly challenging (such as the maritime environment where semaphore is used). National flags are potent patriotic symbols with varied wide-ranging interpretations, often including strong military associations due to their original and ongoing military uses. Flags are also used in messaging, advertising, or for other decorative purposes. The study of flags is known as vexillology, from the Latin vexillum meaning flag or banner.

Read more about Flag:  History, National Flags, Flags At Sea, Shapes and Designs, Religious Flags, Linguistic Flags, In Sports, In Politics, Vehicle Flags, Swimming Flags, Railway Flags, Flagpoles, Hoisting The Flag, Flags and Communication, Flapping

Famous quotes containing the word flag:

    ““Justice” was done, and the President of the Immortals, in Æschylean phrase, had ended his sport with Tess. And the d’Urberville knights and dames slept on in their tombs unknowing. The two speechless gazers bent themselves down to the earth, as if in prayer, and remained thus a long time, absolutely motionless: the flag continued to wave silently. As soon as they had strength they arose, joined hands again, and went on.
    The End”
    —Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)

    “Hath not the morning dawned with added light?
    And shall not evening call another star
    Out of the infinite regions of the night,
    To mark this day in Heaven? At last, we are
    A nation among nations; and the world
    Shall soon behold in many a distant port
    Another flag unfurled!”
    —Henry Timrod (1828–1867)

    “Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
    Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;

    Bravest of all in Frederick town,
    She took up the flag the men hauled down;”
    —John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)