"half-staff" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "half-staffs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "half-staff (plural half-staffs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Canadian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Funeral",
          "orig": "en:Funeral",
          "parents": [
            "Death",
            "Industries",
            "Society",
            "Body",
            "Life",
            "Business",
            "All topics",
            "Human",
            "Nature",
            "Economics",
            "Fundamental",
            "Social sciences",
            "Sciences"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1900, Richard Harding Davis, Billy and the Big Stick",
          "text": "[T]he agents of the steamship lines drowned their sorrow in rum and ran the house flags to half-staff.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1935 May 13, “Ninth Anniversary of Coup”, in New York Times, page 6",
          "text": "Marshal Joseph Pilsudski, Poland's man of power, died here tonight. . . . Flags were lowered to half staffs.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 April 6, Felisa Cardona, \"Flag order spurs controversy,\" Denver Post (USA), p. B-01, (retrieved 29 Aug. 2011)",
          "text": "President Bush's decision to honor Pope John Paul II by ordering flags lowered to half-staff on all public buildings has reignited a debate about the separation of church and state."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 August 5, “Two men electrocuted fixing flat on firetruck”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 2011-08-29",
          "text": "[T]he flags at Ottawa fire stations were lowered to half-staff in tribute.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Half-mast."
      ],
      "id": "en-half-staff-en-noun-ujoLfJxS",
      "links": [
        [
          "Half-mast",
          "half-mast"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, Canada) Half-mast."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "half staff"
        },
        {
          "word": "halfstaff"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "US"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "half-staff"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "half-staff"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "half-staffs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "half-staff (plural half-staffs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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        "American English",
        "Canadian English",
        "English countable nouns",
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        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Funeral"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1900, Richard Harding Davis, Billy and the Big Stick",
          "text": "[T]he agents of the steamship lines drowned their sorrow in rum and ran the house flags to half-staff.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1935 May 13, “Ninth Anniversary of Coup”, in New York Times, page 6",
          "text": "Marshal Joseph Pilsudski, Poland's man of power, died here tonight. . . . Flags were lowered to half staffs.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 April 6, Felisa Cardona, \"Flag order spurs controversy,\" Denver Post (USA), p. B-01, (retrieved 29 Aug. 2011)",
          "text": "President Bush's decision to honor Pope John Paul II by ordering flags lowered to half-staff on all public buildings has reignited a debate about the separation of church and state."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 August 5, “Two men electrocuted fixing flat on firetruck”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 2011-08-29",
          "text": "[T]he flags at Ottawa fire stations were lowered to half-staff in tribute.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Half-mast."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Half-mast",
          "half-mast"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, Canada) Half-mast."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "US"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "half-staff"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "half staff"
    },
    {
      "word": "halfstaff"
    }
  ],
  "word": "half-staff"
}