meatball flag

meatball flagnoun

• 1

  slanghobbieslifestylemotor-racingA black flag with a solid orange circle, used to summon a damaged car to the pits for repairs.

• 2

  historicalslangA white flag with a solid red circle and sixteen red rays radiating from the central circle, used as a symbol of Imperial Japan.

  • Then came a report over the radio from one of St. Los pilots. He was reporting seeing ships, and they weren't American. Worse still, they were close. Incredulous, Admiral Sprague demanded confirmation, and, circling in closer, the pilot radioed back: "I can see pagoda masts. I see the biggest meatball flag on the biggest battleship I ever saw!" He wasn't wrong, either - that "meatball flag'" was flying from the vast battleship Yamato. All 70,000-plus tons of her were steaming, at speed, straight towards them, and she wasn't alone.