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half-mast

[ haf-mast, hahf-mahst ]

/ ˈhæfˈmæst, ˈhɑfˈmɑst /

noun

a position approximately halfway between the top of a mast, staff, etc., and its base.

verb (used with object)

to place (a flag) at half-mast, as a mark of respect for the dead or as a signal of distress.

Origin of half-mast

First recorded in 1620–30

Words nearby half-mast

half-line, half-liter, half-long, half-mad, half-marathon, half-mast, half-mile, half-miler, half-minute, half-moon, half-mourning

Example sentences from the Web for half-mast

Outside, somebody had taken care to lower the flags to half-mast.

The Resilient City: New York After 9/11 |John Avlon |September 11, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
If a male performer is only flying at half-mast, he may have to spend more time trying to get ready than actually performing.

Blood, Sweat and Sex: My Hard Life in Porn |Aurora Snow |March 18, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
Flags at the border crossing and private homes fly at half-mast in honor of Ivie.

Border Patrol Agent’s Death Dubbed Friendly Fire |Teresa Puente |October 6, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
In a show of solidarity, liberal Republican Mayor John Lindsay ordered that flags be flown at half-mast.

George Bush Thanks a Terrorist |Max Blumenthal |December 18, 2008 |DAILY BEAST

On the day before a member of the tiny European colony there had died of yellow fever, and all the flags were at half-mast.

A Camera Actress in the Wilds of Togoland |Meg Gehrts
Then he left it half-mast high, so as to show, in the way usual with seafaring people, that he required help and succour.

Godfrey Morgan |Jules Verne
The different flagstaffs, and the shipping at the wharves and in the harbor displayed their colors at half-mast.

A Sketch of the Causes, Operations and Results of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee of 1856 |Stephen Palfrey Webb
For, from every main in the harbor, as far as eye could see, the flags of Windover floated at half-mast.

A Singular Life |Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
Then they reversed it and hoisted it half-mast high, and began to cheer for the Republic.

Jess |H. Rider Haggard

British Dictionary definitions for half-mast

half-mast

noun

the lower than normal position to which a flag is lowered on a mast as a sign of mourning or distress

verb

(tr) to put (a flag) in this position