distress signal


noun

a signal used, or designed to be used, by persons in peril, for the purpose of summoning aid, indicating their position, etc., as a radio code sign, aerial flare, flag hoist, or the like. Compare distress call(def 1).
an indication, especially a nonverbal one, that assistance, cooperation, or the like, is needed: He correctly interpreted the host's upturned eyes as a distress signal and hastily changed the subject.

Origin of distress signal

First recorded in 1870–75

Example sentences from the Web for distress signal

  • And it would appear to those to whom he reported that he'd arrived too late at the distress-signal.

    Operation Terror |William Fitzgerald Jenkins

British Dictionary definitions for distress signal

distress signal

noun

a signal by radio, Very light, etc from a ship or other vessel in need of immediate assistance