E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Colours Nailed to the Mast (With our), à outrance.
If the colours are nailed to the mast, they cannot be lowered to express submission.
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“If they catch you at disadvantage, the mines for your life is the word; and so we fight them with our colours nailed to the mast.”—Sir W. Scott: The Pirate, chap. xxi.
