Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—B

Black Flags

Moslem soldiers. The banner of the Abbasides (3 syl.) is black; that of the Fatimites (3 syl.) green; and that of the Ommiades (3 syl.) white. Hence the banner of the Kalif of Bagdad is black, but that of the Sultan of Damascus is green. (Gibbon, chap. iii.)

Black Flags.
Pirates of the Chinese Sea who opposed the French in Tonquin, etc.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Black-foot
Black Flag
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