What Does Semaphore Mean?

Flag semaphore is a semaphore system conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands. Information is encoded by the position of the flags; it is read when the flag is in a fixed position.

What does the term semaphore mean?

(Entry 1 of 2) 1 : an apparatus for visual signaling (as by the position of one or more movable arms) 2 : a system of visual signaling by two flags held one in each hand.

What does the word semaphore come from?

The word semaphore is related to a Greek word meaning "signal," and that's exactly the purpose of semaphores: they give signals. The place you're most likely to have seen a semaphore is a railroad crossing: the gadget with moving arms is a semaphore.