half-mast

See also: half mast

English

Alternative forms

• half mast

Noun

half-mast (uncountable)

1. The lowered position, half the height of a mast, at which a flag is flown when mourning, especially expressing respect for the dead.
   • 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, Government Digital Service:

     Any other UK national flags flown alongside the Union Flag when it is at half-mast should also be at half-mast.

   • 2023 November 2, “China mourns late ex-Premier Li Keqiang”, in Deutsche Welle‎^[1], archived from the original on 02 November 2023, China‎^[2]:

     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, semi-autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and in consulates abroad.

2. (by extension) The lowered position of anything.
3. (colloquial) Unfashionably short length of a pair of trousers.
   • 2016, Jeff Payne, Rider (page 142)

     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.

4. (euphemistic) The state of having a partially erect penis.
   • 2009, Stephen Cannell, At First Sight: A Novel of Obsession, Vanguard Press, →ISBN, page 227:

     Finally, he was at half-mast, hanging out over the toilet seat, barely erect.

Synonyms

• (flag) half-staff
• (erection) semi

Translations

lowered position of a flag

• Catalan: mig pal
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: halfstok (nl)
• Finnish: puolitanko (fi)
• French: en berne (fr)
• German: halbmast (de)
• Hebrew: בחצי התורן (bekhatsí hatóren)
• Portuguese: a meio-mastro
• Romanian: în bernă
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: halv stång

lowered position of any thing

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: puolitanko (fi)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

state of being partially erect

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: puolitanko (fi)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

References

• (short trousers): Tony Thorne (2014) “half-mast”, in Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, 4th edition, London,  […]: Bloomsbury