Definition of "flag officer" []

• An officer in the navy or coast guard holding a rank higher than captain, such as rear admiral, vice admiral, or admiral. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "For a flag officer to quietly give up his ship to a civilian — especially a brash, inexperienced, coin-bisecting Adjutor — would have been unthinkable to the young Ensign Lleshi fresh aboard his first ship."
• "On the night of November 12, a radio message from Beatty requested that a German flag officer come to the Firth of Forth to make arrangements."