Word.ws English Dictionary

flew the flag

flew the flag is the simple past of fly the flag.

Meaning of fly the flag

Verb

fly the flag (third-person singular simple present flies the flag, present participle flying the flag, simple past flew the flag, past participle flown the flag)

  1. To be registered in a particular country and display that country's flag as a result. (of a ship, airline etc)
  2. (idiomatic) To support one's country enthusiastically.
    • Now they are the English champions, flying the flag for their country in Europe’s premier club competition and managed by a 53‑year‑old who only got the job on Sunday night.2017 March 14, Stuart James, “Leicester stun Sevilla to reach last eight after Kasper Schmeichel save”, in the Guardian

Questions about flew the flag

What is flew the flag the simple past of?
Flew the flag is the simple past of fly the flag.

Words near flew the flag in the dictionary

  1. flew out
  2. flew out of the traps
  3. flew solo
  4. flew the blue pigeon
  5. flew the coop
  6. flew the flag
  7. flew the freak flag
  8. flew the kite
  9. flew the nest
  10. flew too close to the sun
  11. flew under the radar

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: flew the flag (page history and authors); fly the flag (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “flew the flag.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flew_the_flag. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.