half-staff

See also: halfstaff and half staff

English

Alternative forms

• half staff, halfstaff

Noun

half-staff (plural half-staffs)

1. (US, Canada) Half-mast.
   • c. 1900, Richard Harding Davis, Billy and the Big Stick:

     [T]he agents of the steamship lines drowned their sorrow in rum and ran the house flags to half-staff.

   • 1935 May 13, “Ninth Anniversary of Coup”, in New York Times, page 6:

     Marshal Joseph Pilsudski, Poland's man of power, died here tonight. . . . Flags were lowered to half staffs.

   • 2005 April 6, Felisa Cardona, "Flag order spurs controversy," Denver Post (USA), p. B-01, (retrieved 29 Aug. 2011):

     President Bush's decision to honor Pope John Paul II by ordering flags lowered to half-staff on all public buildings has reignited a debate about the separation of church and state.

   • 2008 August 5, “Two men electrocuted fixing flat on firetruck”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 29 Aug. 2011:

     [T]he flags at Ottawa fire stations were lowered to half-staff in tribute.

Translations

half-mast — see half-mast