liberty pole
Americannoun
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Also called liberty tree. American History. a pole or tree, often with a liberty cap or a banner at the top, usually located on a village green or in a market square, used by the Sons of Liberty in many colonial towns as a symbol of protest against British rule and around which anti-British rallies were held.
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a tall flagpole, traditionally with a liberty cap at the top, serving as a symbol of liberty.
Etymology
Origin of liberty pole
First recorded in 1760–70
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They have put up a liberty pole, which is essentially just that: a big wooden pole.
From Slate • Nov. 28, 2024
The liberty pole tradition traces its roots to ancient Rome, where a group of senators celebrated the emperor’s assassination by sticking a red cap on top of a pole.
From Slate • Nov. 28, 2024
They put one broken half of Plymouth Rock into the wagon, and the 30 oxen had an easier trip up Cole’s Hill, and they deposited it beside the liberty pole.
From Slate • Nov. 28, 2024
On the common, half way between the two, was the liberty pole.
From Old Rail Fence Corners The A. B. C's. of Minnesota History by Morris, Lucy Leavenworth Wilder
"You had better send us your old liberty pole," wrote Philadelphia scornfully to New York, "since you clearly have no further use for it."
From The Siege of Boston by French, Allen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
