slack and white striped
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To express sorrow and hope. The mourning of the South Sea Islanders.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “slack and white striped” mean?
To express sorrow and hope. The mourning of the South Sea Islanders.
Is “slack and white striped” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.