flag staff

flag staff (countable and uncountable, plural flag staffs or flag staves)

1. Alternative form of flagstaff
   • 1841, Abel Flint, George Gillet, A system of geometry and trigonometry, page 104:

     The flag staves should be as much as two and a half or three inches in diameter, or what would be better, two strips of a board of that width, and seven or eight feet in length.

   • 2013, David Cordingly, Billy Ruffian:

     She is depicted with huge flags flying from temporary flag staffs above her newly completed hull: the red ensign flies at her stern, a small union flag at her bows;

   • 2014, John Frederick Dennett, The Voyages and Travels of Captains Ross, Parry, Franklin, and Mr. Belzoni, page 34:

     Mr. Fife's party consisted of himself and six men; and after they had wandered for three days they observed the flag staff at a great distance.

2. A flag officer and his staff.
   • 2013, Jean Moulin, French Cruisers, 1922–1956:

     The conning tower was a relatively compact space, with curved walls to provide maximum strength, so it could accommodate only a handful of picked staff to support the Captain and, if flag staff were embarked, the Admiral.

   • 2014, Taylor Anderson, Deadly Shores, page 184:

     They and a large percentage of the flag staff were standing on Maaka-Kakja 's spacious port bridge-wing while aircraft were trundled across the flight deck on launching trucks that would be hooked to the hydraulic catapults.

   • 2014, Ken Jones, Hubert Kelly Jr., Admiral Arleigh (31-Knot) Burke:

     Thirteen of the flag staff were dead, including three officers and ten enlisted men.

The plural flag staves applies only to the flagstaff, and not to the staff of a flag officer.