Word.ws English Dictionary

nailing one's colours to the mast

nailing one's colours to the mast is the present participle and gerund of nail one's colours to the mast.

Meaning of nail one's colours to the mast

Verb

nail one's colours to the mast (third-person singular simple present nails one's colours to the mast, present participle nailing one's colours to the mast, simple past and past participle nailed one's colours to the mast)

  1. To clearly show one's support for a side or opinion in a dispute, often indicating an intention to defend that side to the end.
    • Stood for his country’s glory fast,
      And nail’d her colours to the mast!1808, Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto I, Introduction, Stanza 10

Questions about nailing one's colours to the mast

What is nailing one's colours to the mast the present participle and gerund of?
Nailing one's colours to the mast is the present participle and gerund of nail one's colours to the mast.

Words near nailing one's colours to the mast in the dictionary

  1. nailheads
  2. nailing
  3. nailing down
  4. nailing it
  5. nailing Jell-O to a wall
  6. nailing one's colours to the mast
  7. nailing someone to the wall
  8. nailing the hammer on the head
  9. nailing to the counter
  10. nailings
  11. nailist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nailing one's colours to the mast (page history and authors); nail one's colours to the mast (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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