subs. phr. (American).—The United States flag: THE GRIDIRON; THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER. STARS-AND-BARS = the flag of the Southern Confederacy, 1861–5.
1777. Act of Congress. “Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United Colonies the THIRTREN STIPES alternately red and white; that the Union be THIRTEEN STARS, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
1812. F. S. KEY, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’
| Oh! say, does that STAR-SPANGLED BANNER yet wave | |
| O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? |
c. 1861. Confederate Song.
| Our Southern boys are brave and true, and are joining heart and hand, | |
| And are flocking to the STARS AND BARS, as they are floating o’er our land. |
