nail one's colors to the mast

nail (one's) colors to the mast

To refuse to cease or surrender. Because lowering a ship's flag was a customary indication of surrender, this nautical phrase emphasizes the resolve of a ship's crew. We will nail our colors to the mast and fight on—they will never capture us! We're going to have a tough time beating this team now that they are playing with such determination. I fear they've nailed their colors to the mast.See also: color, mast, nail

nail one's colors to the mast

Adopt an unyielding attitude. This nineteenth-century expression alludes to flying a flag from a ship’s mast. If the flag is nailed to the mast, it cannot be hauled down. Sir Walter Scott may have been the first to put it in writing: “Stood for his country’s glory fast, And nailed her colours to the mast” (Marmion, 1808). Although the days of flag-flying sailing ships are in the past, the expression lives on. It appeared in Great Outdoors (Sept. 27, 1989): “The prince neatly side-stepped nailing his colours to the mast in the national parks debate.”See also: color, mast, nail

单词	nail one's colors to the mast
释义	nail one's colors to the mast nail (one's) colors to the mast To refuse to cease or surrender. Because lowering a ship's flag was a customary indication of surrender, this nautical phrase emphasizes the resolve of a ship's crew. We will nail our colors to the mast and fight on—they will never capture us! We're going to have a tough time beating this team now that they are playing with such determination. I fear they've nailed their colors to the mast.See also: color, mast, nail nail one's colors to the mast Adopt an unyielding attitude. This nineteenth-century expression alludes to flying a flag from a ship’s mast. If the flag is nailed to the mast, it cannot be hauled down. Sir Walter Scott may have been the first to put it in writing: “Stood for his country’s glory fast, And nailed her colours to the mast” (Marmion, 1808). Although the days of flag-flying sailing ships are in the past, the expression lives on. It appeared in Great Outdoors (Sept. 27, 1989): “The prince neatly side-stepped nailing his colours to the mast in the national parks debate.”See also: color, mast, nail
随便看	paleocrystic paleocrystic ice paleocurrent paleodendrology paleodepth paleo diet paleodiet paleo diets paleoecologic paleoecological paleoecological investigation of recent lake acidification paleoecologist paleoecologists paleoecology paleoencephalon paleoendemic paleoenviroment paleo environment and climate history of the russian arctic paleoepidemiology paleoequator paleoeskimo paleoethnobotany stuffed him full of stuffed him in stuffed him into