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," New York Times, p. 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 Aug. 5, "Two men electrocuted fixing flat on firetruck," Ottawa Citizen (Canada) (retrieved 29 Aug. 2011):

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

Translations