'To dip the colors' definitions:

Definition of 'To dip the colors'

From: GCIDE

Dip \Dip\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dippedor Dipt (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Dipping.] [OE. dippen, duppen, AS. dyppan; akin to Dan. dyppe, Sw. doppa, and to AS. d?pan to baptize, OS. d?pian, D. doopen, G. taufen, Sw. d["o]pa, Goth. daupjan, Lith. dubus deep, hollow, OSlav. dupl? hollow, and to E. dive. Cf. Deep, Dive.]
1. To plunge or immerse; especially, to put for a moment into a liquid; to insert into a fluid and withdraw again. [1913 Webster]
The priest shall dip his finger in the blood. --Lev. iv. 6. [1913 Webster]
[Wat'ry fowl] now dip their pinions in the briny deep. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
While the prime swallow dips his wing. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
2. To immerse for baptism; to baptize by immersion. --Book of Common Prayer. Fuller. [1913 Webster]
3. To wet, as if by immersing; to moisten. [Poetic] [1913 Webster]
A cold shuddering dew Dips me all o'er. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
4. To plunge or engage thoroughly in any affair. [1913 Webster]
He was . . . dipt in the rebellion of the Commons. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
5. To take out, by dipping a dipper, ladle, or other receptacle, into a fluid and removing a part; -- often with out; as, to dip water from a boiler; to dip out water. [1913 Webster]
6. To engage as a pledge; to mortgage. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Live on the use and never dip thy lands. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
Dipped candle, a candle made by repeatedly dipping a wick in melted tallow.
To dip snuff, to take snuff by rubbing it on the gums and teeth. [Southern U. S.]
To dip the colors (Naut.), to lower the colors and return them to place; -- a form of naval salute. [1913 Webster]