Browse phrases beginning with: [A][B][C][D][E][F][G][H][I][J][K][L][M][N][O][P][Q][R][S][T][U,V][W][X,Y,Z] Nail your colours to the mastMeaning To display one's opinions and beliefs. Also used to mean to show one's intention to hold on to those beliefs until the end. Origin In nautical battles colours (flags) were lowered as a mark of submission. Nailing your colours to the mast meant you weren't intending to submit. It is correct to use the English spelling, rather the the US 'nail one's colors to the mast', as the phrase originated in England. The practise is alluded to in Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas' The Dispatches and Letters of Lord Nelson, 1845:
The first record of the phrase in print is from that inveterate coiner of phrases - Sir Walter Scott, in Marmion, 1808:
See also - phrases coined by Sir Walter Scott. See also - join the colours. |