nail one's colours to the mast
短语发音
US
词形变化
nailed one's colours to the mast
nailing one's colours to the mast
nails one's colours to the mast
三单
nails one's colours to the mast
nailing one's colours to the mast
现在分词
nailed one's colours to the mast
过去式
nailed one's colours to the mast
过去分词
别名
nail one's colors to the mast
pin one's colours to the mast
释义与例句
v.
-
1.
To clearly show one's support for a side or opinion in a dispute, often indicating an intention to defend that side to the end.
词源
From the naval military practice of displaying one's colours (signal flags or insignia) from the mast of a ship during battle to show loyalty. To surrender, one would strike one's colours, i.e. take down one's flag. If a ship nailed its colours to the mast, it would fight to the death and not surrender.
来源：wiktionary