white flag
Preserved but no longer current.
An all-white flag is universally used as the signal of surrender or of desiring to parley. A messenger bearing a white flag is by international decency immune from harm.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Examples
Tatoeba sentence #240988 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
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 “white flag” mean?
An all-white flag is universally used as the signal of surrender or of desiring to parley. A messenger bearing a white flag is by international decency immune from harm.
Is “white flag” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.