Definition of Jolly Roger in US English:
Jolly Roger
nounˌjälē ˈräjərˌdʒɑli ˈrɑdʒər
A pirate's flag with a white skull and crossbones on a black background.
Example sentencesExamples
- ‘It's a Jolly Roger,’ she says, and smiles distantly.
- For gentler fun there's now a Jolly Roger family boat ride in the Pirate Cove, where captains and young pirates (your offspring) can jump aboard together.
- We don't even wear patches on our gi (I suggested a Jolly Roger once, but no one else liked the idea).
- He got so frustrated with his words that he threw his dagger across the room, nailing a Jolly Roger right in the nose.
- The Old Guard is nothing if not sexist, and while it's not exactly unheard of for a Rhodes Scholar to replace a Jolly Roger, one finds it hard to imagine them permitting a former Girl Scout to do the same.
- At the top of the mast was a red flag, a Jolly Roger if he'd ever seen one.
Origin
Early 18th century: apparently from jolly + the male given name Roger, possibly in the old dialect sense ‘the Devil’.