Word.ws English Dictionary

flying the flag

flying the flag is the present participle and gerund 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 flying the flag

What is flying the flag the present participle and gerund of?
Flying the flag is the present participle and gerund of fly the flag.

Words near flying the flag in the dictionary

  1. flying starts
  2. flying stationer
  3. flying stationers
  4. flying the blue pigeon
  5. flying the coop
  6. flying the flag
  7. flying the kite
  8. flying the nest
  9. flying toilet
  10. flying toilets
  11. flying too close to the sun

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: flying 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: “flying the flag.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flying_the_flag. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.