meatball flag

English

Noun

meatball flag (plural meatball flags)

1. (motor racing, slang) A black flag with a solid orange circle, used to summon a damaged car to the pits for repairs.
2. (slang, historical) A white flag with a solid red circle and sixteen red rays radiating from the central circle, used as a symbol of Imperial Japan.
   • 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 1:21 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?‎^[1], archived from the original on 3 November 2022:

     Then came a report over the radio from one of St. Lo's 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.