crack the flags
verbEtymology See flag (“a flagstone”); the idea is that the extreme heat might cause paving-stones to split.
1
Northern, UK, Colloquial Of the sun or sunshine: to beat down very strongly; to be extremely hot.
- Early summer sunshine threatened to crack the flags outside.1998, Julia Wild, Blue Silk Promise, page 80:
- I was apprehensive, feeling butterflies, pissed, the sun cracking the flags.2005, Andrew Porter, Suicide Squad: The Inside Story of a Football Firm:
3 more examples
- […] plus the sun was still cracking the flags as we headed back to Geneva.2008, Dave Spencer, A Smudge on My Lens, page 276:
- The sun's hot enough to crack the flags and there's not a cloud in sight.2010, Maureen Lee, The House By Princes Park:
- 'Tis fit to crack the flags so you'll not be wantin' your brolly.2012, Audrey Howard, There is No Parting: