red ensign

red ensign (plural red ensigns)

1. The flag flown by a British merchant ship.
   • 1939 June, G. W. Tripp, “The Modern Railway Steamer”, in Railway Magazine, page 392:

     Both Worthing and Brighton sail under the red ensign and are excellent testimonials to their British builders, William Denny & Brothers, from whose yard so many notable cross-channel and shallow-draught vessels have come.

2. (historical, Canada) Such a flag bearing the coat of arms of Canada, formerly used as a semi-official national flag of Canada.

• “red ensign”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• ingenders, ingendres, resending