Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A blue flag with a white square in the center, flown to signal that a ship is ready to sail.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical A blue signal flag with a
white rectangle in thecentre , signifying "P". Whenflown alone,indicates that aship is ready tosail , requiring allcrew members andpassengers to return on board.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[From the fact that it represents the letter P in the International Code of Symbols.]
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Examples
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chained_bear commented on the word blue peter
A Sea of Words defines this as:
"A blue flag with a white rectangle in the middle, signifying the letter P in the international code, hoisted to signal that the ship is ready to sail, especially to recall the crew." (112)
Dictionary of Newfoundland English describes it as "seaman's jacket." Usage: '1898 The Record 10 So great was his emotion, Jess expected to see the buttons fly off his blue-peter... His manly bosom rose and fell with the regularity of a ferris-wheel.' (52)
February 29, 2008