half-mast
half-mast noun: the lowered position, half the height of a mast, at which a flag is flown when mourning, especially expressing respect for the deceased.
Noun
half-mast (uncountable)
- The lowered position, half the height of a mast, at which a flag is flown when mourning, especially expressing respect for the deceased.
- Any other UK national flags flown alongside the Union Flag when it is at half-mast should also be at half-mast.2016 October 13, Department for Culture, Media & Sport and Foreign & Commonwealth Office, "Flag-flying from UK government buildings for the death of the King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand", GOV.UK...
- He is to be cremated later Thursday at a ceremony likely to be attended by the country's top leadership.
Flags were seen flying at half-mast in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. China's state news agency Xinhua reported that flags would be lowered at government buildings across mainland China...2023 November 2, “China mourns late ex-Premier Li Keqiang”, in Deutsche Welle, archived from the original on 02 Nov 2023, China
- The lowered position of anything.
- An unfashionably short length of a pair of trousers.
- I looked around. Ari in a green jacket with four inches of fore arm showing and trousers at half mast, Penny and I in mismatched padded jackets and ski trousers which were way too long; and all wearing the silver moon boots that had been the rage in the early eighties.2016, Jeff Payne, Rider (page 142)
- The state of having a partially erect penis.
- Finally, he was at half-mast, hanging out over the toilet seat, barely erect.2009, Stephen Cannell, At First Sight: A Novel of Obsession, Vanguard Press, →ISBN, page 227
Verb
half-mast (third-person singular simple present half-masts, present participle half-masting, simple past and past participle half-masted)
- To fly a flag in this position.
- Synonyms:
- half-staff, semi
half-mast meaning in Tamil
half-mast in Tamil
- அரைக்கம்பம்
Synonyms of half-mast
Forms of half-mast
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | half mast |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | half-masts |
| present participle | half-masting |
| past participle | half-masted |
| past | half-masted |
Questions about half-mast
- What does half-mast mean?
- Half-mast means the lowered position, half the height of a mast, at which a flag is flown when mourning, especially expressing respect for the deceased.
- What is half-mast in Tamil?
- Half-mast in Tamil is அரைக்கம்பம். See Half-mast meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is half-mast?
- Half-mast can be a noun or a verb.
Words near half-mast in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: half-mast (page history and authors); half-mast (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-half-mast.wav.
Cite this entry: “half-mast.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/half-mast. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.