flag down

(redirected from flag us down)
Like this video? Subscribe to our free daily email and get a new idiom video every day!

flag down

To wave one's arms to attract someone's attention, usually to get them to stop moving. A noun or pronoun can be used between "flag" and "down." I was finally able to flag down a passing motorist to help with our stalled car. It'll take a while to flag a taxi down. Why don't we just walk to the museum? Luckily, I was able to flag down a police officer right after I saw the car and bicycle collide.
See also: down, flag
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

flag someone or something down

to signal or wave, indicating that someone should stop. Please go out and flag a taxi down. I'll be right out. She went to flag down a taxi.
See also: down, flag
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

flag down

Signal to stop, as in The police were flagging down all cars. This expression uses the verb flag in the sense of "catch the attention of, as by waving a flag," a usage dating from the mid-1800s; down was added in the first half of the 1900s.
See also: down, flag
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

flag down

v.
To signal something or someone to stop: I flagged down a taxi when it started raining. When we ran out of gas, we flagged the police officer down to ask for help.
See also: down, flag
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
See also:
References in periodicals archive ?
On almost all of these bike rides, a member of the JMSDF out for a morning jog would flag us down and, in broken English, thank us for the friendship that Japan and America share today.
"They flag us down, they pull us over, they talk to us," Sky News quoted Rosenthal as telling CBS News.
Or please flag us down on the expo floor--at Luxe Pack NY, HBA and Cosmoprof NA--all of which have announced their own green packaging features.
Speaking of, if you are ever cooking in your front yard and you see us coming, flag us down for heaven's sake and we will join you!
"It's about serving the public, so if you see one of our buses passing by, flag us down and take a trip to Calderstones or Sefton Park."
"At first we didn't know whether to stop as the guy tried to flag us down. But as I wound down the window I could see he was covered in blood," Lee said.
'We are only supposed to pick up from the ranks, but people are still trying to flag us down everywhere.
Clients would run up to the van, stand in line, flag us down, call our hotline and tell us where to meet them, praise our work, and sometimes hang out for a few minutes to chat with us.
The driver of a supposedly broken-down car tried to flag us down on a remote road.
We have enough problems on a Friday and Saturday night picking up customers with people trying to flag us down by stepping out into the road or even kicking our cars.