red, white and blue

red, white and blue

1. (UK) The flag of the United Kingdom.
   • p. 1920, The Boys of Kilmichael (Irish Song, author unknown):

     Forget not the boys of Kilmichael, those brave lads so gallant and true.

     Who fought 'neath the green flag of Erin, and conquered the red, white and blue.

2. (US) The flag of the United States of America.
   • 1843, David T. Shaw, “Columbia – the Gem of the Ocean”, Lee & Walker, page 5:

     Thy banners make tyranny tremble, When borne by the red, white and blue.

3. The flag of France.
   • 1917, Charles Downer Hazen, The French Revolution ad Napoleon, Henry Holt, page 120:

     The Fourteenth of July was declared the national holiday and a new flag, the tricolor, the red, white, and blue, was adopted in place of the old white banner of the Bourbons, studded with the fleur-de-lis.

4. The flag of the Netherlands.
   • 2010, Cornelia Fuykschot, Hunger in Holland, Publisher, page 144:

     Many houses now were showing flags, and the red, white and blue was a jubilation in the morning sun.

5. The flag of Russia.

red, white and blue (comparative more red, white and blue, superlative most red, white and blue)

1. (US) Quintessentially American.
   • 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival (lyrics and music), “Fortunate Son”, in Willy and the Poor Boys:

     Some folks are born made to raise the flag / they're red, white and blue

   • 2007, David Harsanyi, Nanny State, →ISBN:

     What is more red, white, and blue than cheeseburgers!

   • 2010, Stephen Coonts, The Red Horseman, →ISBN:

     This multilingual grunter would fit right in, as red, white and blue as a telephone solicitor hyping penny stocks to shutin geriatrics.

   • 2011, Eugene Robinson, Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America, →ISBN, page 99:

     He's an intelligent man who reads books and knows history, but he could not bring himself to admit that a Puerto Rican girl's childhood in the Bronx was just as red, white, and blue as an Irish American boy's childhood in Washington.

• bleu, blanc et rouge