Flabbily
Flab´bi•ly, adv. In a flabby manner.

Flabbiness
Flab´bi•ness, n. Quality or state of being flabby.

Flabby
Flab´by, a. [See Flap.] Yielding to the touch, and easily moved or shaken; hanging loose by its own weight; wanting firmness; flaccid; as flabby flesh.

Flabellate
Fla•bel´late, a. [L. flabellatus, p. p. of flabellare to fan, fr. flabellum. See Flabbel.] (Bot.) Flabelliform.

Flabelliform
Fla•bel´li•form, a. [L. flabellum a fan + -form: cf. F. flabeliforme.] Having the form of a fan; fan-shaped; flabellate.

Flabellinerved
Fla•bel´li•nerved, a. [L. flabellum a fan + E. nerve.] (Bot.) Having many nerves diverging radiately from the base; — said of a leaf.

Flabellum
Fla•bel´lum, n. [L. See Flabel.] (Eccl.) A fan; especially, the fan carried before the pope on state occasions, made in ostrich and peacock feathers. Shipley.

Flaccid
Flac´cid, a. [L. flaccidus, fr. flaccus flabby: cf. OF. flaccide.] Yielding to pressure for want of firmness and stiffness; soft and weak; limber; lax; drooping; flabby; as a flaccid muscle; flaccid flesh.
"Religious profession … has become flacced." I. Taylor. — Flac´cid•ly (#), adv. — Flac´cid•ness, n.

Flaccidity
Flac•cid´i•ty, n. [Cf. F. flaccidite.] The state of being flaccid.

Flacherie
Flache•rie´ (flash•re"), n. [F.] A bacterial disease of silkworms, supposed to be due to eating contaminated mulberry leaves.

Flacker
Flack´er, v. i. [OE. flakeren, fr. flacken to move quickly to and fro; cf. icel. flakka to rove about, AS. flacor fluttering, flying, G. flackern to flare, flicker.] To flutter, as a bird. [Prov. Eng.] Grose.

Flacket
Flack´et, n. [OF. flasquet little flask, dim. of flasque a flask.] A barrel-shaped bottle; a flagon.

Flacon
Fla´con (fla"kôn), n. [F. See Flagon.] A small glass bottle; as a flacon for perfume. "Two glass flacons for the ink." Longfellow.

Flagellant
Flag´el•lant, n. [L. flagellans, p. p. of flagellare: cf.F. flagellant. See Flagellate.] (Eccl. Hist.) One of a fanatical sect which flourished in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, and maintained that flagellation was of equal virtue with baptism and the sacrament; — called also disciplinant.

Flagellation
Flag•el•la´tion, n. [L. flagellatio: cf. F. flagellation.] A beating or flogging; a whipping; a scourging. Garth.

Flagellator
Flag´el•la•tor, n. One who practices flagellation; one who whips or scourges.

Flagelliform
Fla•gel´li•form, a. [L. flagellum a whip + -form.] Shaped like a whiplash; long, slender, round, flexible, and (comming) tapering.

Flagellum
Fla•gel´lum, n. ; pl. E. Flagellums (#), L. Flagella (#). [L., a whip. See Flagellate, v. t.]
1. (Bot.) A young, flexible shoot of a plant; esp., the long trailing branch of a vine, or a slender branch in certain mosses.
2. (Zoöl.) (a) A long, whiplike cilium. See Flagellata. (b) An appendage of the reproductive apparatus of the snail. (c) A lashlike appendage of a crustacean, esp. the terminal ortion of the antennae and the epipodite of the maxilipeds. See Maxilliped.

Flagging
Flag´ging, n. A pavement or sidewalk of flagstones; flagstones, collectively.

Flagging
Flag´ging, a. Growing languid, weak, or spiritless; weakening; delaying. — Flag´ging•ly, adv.

Flaggy
Flag´gy, a.
1. Weak; flexible; limber. "Flaggy wings." Spenser.
2. Tasteless; insipid; as a flaggy apple. [Obs.] Bacon.

Flaggy
Flag´gy, a. [From 5th Flag.] Abounding with the plant called flag; as a flaggy marsh.

Flagitious
Fla•gi´tious, a. [L. flagitiosus, fr. flagitium a shameful or disgraceful act, orig., a burning desire, heat of passion, from flagitare to demand hotly, fiercely; cf. flagrare to burn, E. flagrant.]
1. Disgracefully or shamefully criminal; grossly wicked; scandalous; shameful; — said of acts, crimes, etc.
"Debauched principles and flagitious practices." I. Taylor.
2. Guilty of enormous crimes; corrupt; profligate; — said of persons. Pope.
3. Characterized by scandalous crimes or vices; as flagitious times. Pope.
Syn. — Atrocious; villainous; flagrant; heinous; corrupt; profligate; abandoned. See Atrocious. — Fla•gi´tious•ly, adv. — Fla•gi´tious•ness, n.
"A sentence so flagitiously unjust." Macaulay.

Flagon
Flag´on, n. [F. flacon, for flascon, fr. OF. flasche, from LL. flasco. See Flask.] A vessel with a narrow mouth, used for holding and conveying liquors. It is generally larger than a bottle, and of leather or stoneware rather than of glass.
"A trencher of mutton chops, and a flagon of ale." Macaulay.

Flagrancy
Fla´gran•cy, n. ; pl. Flagrancies (#). [L. flagrantia a burning. See Flagrant.]
1. A burning; great heat; inflammation. [Obs.]
"Lust causeth a flagrancy in the eyes." Bacon.
2. The condition or quality of being flagrant; atrocity; heiniousness; enormity; excess. Steele.

Flagrate
Fla´grate, v. t. [L. flagrare, flagratum, v.i. & t., to burn.] To burn. [Obs.] Greenhill.

Flagration
Fla•gra´tion, n. A conflagration. [Obs.]

Flagship
Flag´ship, n. (Naut.) The vessel which carries the commanding officer of a fleet or squadron and flies his distinctive flag or pennant.

Flagstaff
Flag´staff, n. ; pl. -staves or -staffs. A staff on which a flag is hoisted.

Flagstone
Flag´stone, n. A flat stone used in paving, or any rock which will split into such stones. See Flag, a stone.

Flail, n. [L. flagellum whip, scourge, in LL., a threshing flail: cf. OF. flael, flaiel, F. fleau. See Flagellum.]
1. An instrument for threshing or beating grain from the ear by hand, consisting of a wooden staff or handle, at the end of which a stouter and shorter pole or club, called a swipe, is so hung as to swing freely.
"His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn." Milton.
2. An ancient military weapon, like the common flail, often having the striking part armed with rows of spikes, or loaded. Fairholt.
"No citizen thought himself safe unless he carried under his coat a small flail, loaded with lead, to brain the Popish assassins." Macaulay.

Flain, obs. p. p. of Flay. Chaucer.

Flaky
Flak´y, a. Consisting of flakes or of small, loose masses; lying, or cleaving off, in flakes or layers; flakelike.
"What showers of mortal hail, what flaky fires!" Watts.
"A flaky weight of winter’s purest snows." Wordsworth.

Flam (flam), n. [Cf. AS. fleám, flaem, flight. rad. 84 . Cf. Flimflam.] A freak or whim; also a falsehood; a lie; an illusory pretext; deception; delusion. [Obs.]
"A perpetual abuse and flam upon posterity." South.

Flam, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flammed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Flamming.] To deceive with a falsehood. [Obs.]
"God is not to be flammed off with lies." South.

Flamboyer
Flam•boy´er, n. [F. flamboyer to be bright.] (Bot.) A name given in the East and West Indies to certain trees with brilliant blossoms, probably species of Caesalpinia.

Flame (flam), n. [OE. flame, flaume, flaumbe, OF. flame, flambe, F. flamme, fr. L. flamma, fr. flamma, fr. flagrare to burn. See Flagrant, and cf. Flamneau, Flamingo.]
1. A stream of burning vapor or gas emitting light and heat; darting or streaming fire; a blaze; a fire.
2. Burning zeal or passion; elevated and noble enthusiasm; glowing imagination; passionate excitement or anger. "In a flame of zeal severe." Milton.
"Where flames refin’d in breasts seraphic glow." Pope.
"Smit with the love of sister arts we came, And met congenial, mingling flame with flame." Pope.
3. Ardor of affection; the passion of love. Coleridge.
4. A person beloved; a sweetheart. Thackeray.
Syn. — Blaze; brightness; ardor. See Blaze. Flame bridge, a bridge wall. See Bridge, n. , 5. — Flame color, brilliant orange or yellow. B. Jonson. — Flame engine, an early name for the gas engine. — Flame manometer, an instrument, invented by Koenig, to obtain graphic representation of the action of the human vocal organs. See Manometer. — Flame reaction (Chem.), a method of testing for the presence of certain elements by the characteristic color imparted to a flame; as sodium colors a flame yellow, potassium violet, lithium crimson, boracic acid green, etc. Cf. Spectrum analysis, under Spectrum. — Flame tree (Bot.), a tree with showy scarlet flowers, as the Rhododendron arboreum in India, and the Brachychiton acerifolium of Australia.

Flame, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flamed p. pr. & vb. n. Flaming.] [OE. flamen, flaumben, F. flamber, OF. also flamer. See Flame, n. ]
1. To burn with a flame or blaze; to burn as gas emitted from bodies in combustion; to blaze.
"The main blaze of it is past, but a small thing would make it flame again." Shak.
2. To burst forth like flame; to break out in violence of passion; to be kindled with zeal or ardor.
"He flamed with indignation." Macaulay.

Flame, v. t. To kindle; to inflame; to excite.
"And flamed with zeal of vengeance inwardly." Spenser.

Flame-colored
Flame´-col•ored, a. Of the color of flame; of a bright orange yellow color. Shak.

Flameless
Flame´less, a. Destitute of flame. Sandys.

Flamelet
Flame´let, n. [ Flame + - let.] A small flame.
"The flamelets gleamed and flickered." Longfellow.

Flamen
Fla´men, n. ; pl. E. Flammens (#), L. Flamines (#). [L.] (Rom. Antiq.) A priest devoted to the service of a particular god, from whom he received a distinguishing epithet. The most honored were those of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus, called respectively Flamen Dialis, Flamen Martialis, and Flamen Quirinalis.
"Affrights the flamens at their service quaint." Milton.

Flamineous
Fla•min´e•ous, a. Pertaining to a flamen; flaminical.

Flaming
Flam´ing, a.
1. Emitting flames; afire; blazing; consuming; illuminating.
2. Of the color of flame; high-colored; brilliant; dazzling. "In flaming yellow bright." Prior.
3. Ardent; passionate; burning with zeal; irrepressibly earnest; as a flaming proclomation or harangue.

Flamingly
Flam´ing•ly, adv. In a flaming manner.

Flamingo
Fla•min´go, n. ; pl. Flamingoes (#). [Sp. flamenco, cf. Pg. flamingo, Prov. flammant, F. flamant; prop. a p. pr. meaning flaming. So called in allusion to its color. See Flame.] (Zoöl.) Any bird of the genus Phœnicopterus. The flamingoes have webbed feet, very long legs, and a beak bent down as if broken. Their color is usually red or pink. The American flamingo is P. ruber; the European is P. antiquorum.

Flammability
Flam•ma•bil´ity, n. The quality of being flammable; inflammability. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

Flammable
Flam´ma•ble, a. Inflammable. [Obs.]

Flammation
Flam•ma´tion, n. The act of setting in a flame or blaze. [Obs.] Sir. T. Browne.

Flammeous
Flam´me•ous, a. [L. flammeus from flamma flame.] Pertaining to, consisting of, or resembling, flame. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

Flammiferous
Flam•mif´er•ous, a. [L. flammifer; flamma flame + ferre to bear.] Producing flame.

Flammivomous
Flam•miv´o•mous, a. [L. flammivomus; flamma flame + vomere to vomit.] Vomiting flames, as a volcano. W. Thompson. (1745).

Flammulated
Flam´mu•la•ted, a. [L. flammula little flame, dim. fr. flamma flame.] Of a reddish color.

Flamy
Flam´y, a. [From Flame.] Flaming; blazing; flamelike; flame-colored; composed of flame. Pope.

Flanconade
Flan•co•nade´, n. [F.] (Fencing) A thrust in the side.

Flânerie
Flâ•ne•rie", n. [F. flânerie. See Flaneur.] Lit., strolling; sauntering; hence, aimless; idleness; as intellectual flânerie.

Flang, n. A miner’s two- pointed pick.

Flange (flanj), n. [Prov. E. flange to project, flanch a projection. See Flanch, Flank.]
1. An external or internal rib, or rim, for strength, as the flange of an iron beam; or for a guide, as the flange of a car wheel (see Car wheel.); or for attachment to another object, as the flange on the end of a pipe, steam cylinder, etc. Knight.
2. A plate or ring to form a rim at the end of a pipe when fastened to the pipe. Blind flange, a plate for covering or closing the end of a pipe. — Flange joint, a joint, as that of pipes, where the connecting pieces have flanges by which the parts are bolted together. Knight. - - Flange rail, a rail with a flange on one side, to keep wheels, etc. from running off. — Flange turning, the process of forming a flange on a wrought iron plate by bending and hammering it when hot.

Flange, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flanged (flanjd); p. pr. & vb. n. Flanging (flan"jing).] (Mach.) To make a flange on; to furnish with a flange.

Flange, v. i. To be bent into a flange.

Flanged (flanjd), a. Having a flange or flanges; as a flanged wheel.

Flank (flank), n. [F. flanc, prob. fr. L. flaccus flabby, with n inserted. Cf. Flaccid, Flanch, Flange.]
1. The fleshy or muscular part of the side of an animal, between the ribs and the hip. See Illust. of Beef.
2. (Mil.) (a) The side of an army, or of any division of an army, as of a brigade, regiment, or battalion; the extreme right or left; as to attack an enemy in flank is to attack him on the side.
"When to right and left the front"
"Divided, and to either flank retired." Milton. (b) (Fort.) That part of a bastion which reaches from the curtain to the face, and defends the curtain, the flank and face of the opposite bastion; any part of a work defending another by a fire along the outside of its parapet. See Illust. of Bastion.
3. (Arch.) The side of any building. Brands.
4. That part of the acting surface of a gear wheel tooth that lies within the pitch line. Flank attack (Mil.), an attack upon the side of an army or body of troops, distinguished from one upon its front or rear. — Flank company (Mil.), a certain number of troops drawn up on the right or left of a battalion; usually grenadiers, light infantry, or riflemen. — Flank defense (Fort.), protection of a work against undue exposure to an enemy’s direct fire, by means of the fire from other works, sweeping the ground in its front. — Flank en potence (Mil.), any part of the right or left wing formed at a projecting angle with the line. — Flank files, the first men on the right, and the last on the left, of a company, battalion, etc. — Flank march, a march made parallel or obliquely to an enemy’s position, in order to turn it or to attack him on the flank. — Flank movement, a change of march by an army, or portion of one, in order to turn one or both wings of the enemy, or to take up a new position. — Flanks of a frontier, salient points in a national boundary, strengthened to protect the frontier against hostile incursion. — Flank patrol, detachments acting independently of the column of an army, but patrolling along its flanks, to secure it against surprise and to observe the movements of the enemy.

Flank (flank), v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flanked (flankt); p. pr. & vb. n. Flanking.] [Cf. F. flanquer. See Flank, n. , and cf. Flanker, v. t.]
1. To stand at the flank or side of; to border upon.
"Stately colonnades are flanked with trees." Pitt.
2. To overlook or command the flank of; to secure or guard the flank of; to pass around or turn the flank of; to attack, or threaten to attack; the flank of.

Flank, v. i.
1. To border; to touch. Bp. Butler.
2. To be posted on the side.

Flanker
Flank´er, n. One who, or that which, flanks, as a skirmisher or a body of troops sent out upon the flanks of an army toguard a line of march, or a fort projecting so as to command the side of an assailing body.
"They threw out flankers, and endeavored to dislodge their assailants." W. Irwing.

Flanker
Flank´er, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flankered p. pr. & vb. n. Flankering.] [See Flank, v. t.]
1. To defend by lateral fortifications. [Obs.] Sir T. Herbert.
2. To attack sideways. [Obs.] Evelyn.

Flanneled
Flan´neled, a. Covered or wrapped in flannel.

Flannen
Flan´nen, a. Made or consisting of flannel. [Obs.] "Flannen robes." Dryden.

Flap, n. [OE. flappe, flap, blow, bly-flap; cf. D. flap, and E. flap, v. ] Anything broad and limber that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved; as the flap of a garment.
"A cartilaginous flap upon the opening of the larynx." Sir T. Browne.
2. A hinged leaf, as of a table or shutter.
3. The motion of anything broad and loose, or a stroke or sound made with it; as the flap of a sail or of a wing.
4. pl. (Far.) A disease in the lips of horses. Flap tile, a tile with a bent up portion, to turn a corner or catch a drip. — Flap valve (Mech.), a valve which opens and shuts upon one hinged side; a clack valve.

Flap, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flapped p. pr. & vb. n. Flapping ] [Prob. of imitative origin; cf. D. flappen, E. flap, n. , flop, flippant, fillip.]
1. To beat with a flap; to strike.
"Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings." Pope.
2. To move, as something broad and flaplike; as to flap the wings; to let fall, as the brim of a hat. To flap in the mouth, to taunt. [Obs.] W. Cartwright.

Flap, v. i.
1. To move as do wings, or as something broad or loose; to fly with wings beating the air.
"The crows flapped over by twos and threes." Lowell.
2. To fall and hang like a flap, as the brim of a hat, or other broad thing. Gay.

Flapdragon
Flap´drag•on, n.
1. A game in which the players catch raisins out burning brandy, and swallow them blazing. Johnson.
2. The thing thus caught and eaten. Johnson.
"Cakes and ale, and flapdragons and mummer’s plays, and all the happy sports of Christians night." C. Kingsley.

Flapdragon
Flap´drag•on, v. t. To swallow whole, as a flapdragon; to devour. [Obs.]
"See how the sea flapdragoned it." Shak.

Flap-eared
Flap´-eared, a. Having broad, loose, dependent ears. Shak.

Flapjack
Flap´jack, n.
1. A fklat cake turned on the griddle while cooking; a griddlecake or pacake.
2. A fried dough cake containing fruit; a turnover. [Prov. Eng.]

Flap-mouthed
Flap´-mouthed, a. Having broad, hangling lips. [R.] Shak.

Flapper
Flap´per, n.
1. One who, or that which, flaps.
2. See Flipper. "The flapper of a porpoise." Buckley. Flapper skate (Zoöl.), a European skate ( Raia intermedia).

Flare-up
Flare´-up, n. A sudden burst of anger or passion; an angry dispute. [Colloq.]

Flare-up
Flare´-up, n. A sudden bursting into flame; a flaring.

Flaring
Flar´ing, a.
1. That flares; flaming or blazing unsteadily; shining out with a dazzling light.
"His [the sun’s] flaring beams." Milton.
2. Opening or speading outwards.

Flaringly
Flar´ing•ly, adv. In a flaring manner.

Flash (flash), v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flashed (flasht); p. pr. & vb. n. Flashing.] [Cf. OE. flaskien, vlaskien to pour, sprinkle, dial. Sw. flasa to blaze, E. flush, flare.]
1. To burst or break forth with a sudden and transient flood of flame and light; as the lighting flashes vividly; the powder flashed.
2. To break forth, as a sudden flood of light; to burst instantly and brightly on the sight; to show a momentary brilliancy; to come or pass like a flash.
"Names which have flashed and thundered as the watch words of unnumbered struggles." Talfourd.
"The object is made to flash upon the eye of the mind." M. Arnold.
"A thought flashed through me, which I clothed in act." Tennyson.
3. To burst forth like a sudden flame; to break out violently; to rush hastily.
"Every hour He flashes into one gross crime or other." Shak. To flash in the pan, to fail of success. [Colloq.] See under Flash, a burst of light. Bartlett.
Syn. — Flash, Glitter, Gleam, Glisten, Glister. Flash differs from glitter and gleam, denoting a flood or wide extent of light. The latter words may express the issuing of light from a small object, or from a pencil of rays. Flash differs from other words, also in denoting suddenness of appearance and disappearance. Flashing differs from exploding or disploding in not being accompanied with a loud report. To glisten, or glister, is to shine with a soft and fitful luster, as eyes suffused with tears, or flowers wet with dew.

Flash (flash), v. t.
1. To send out in flashes; to cause to burst forth with sudden flame or light.
"The chariot of paternal Deity, Flashing thick flames." Milton.
2. To convey as by a flash; to light up, as by a sudden flame or light; as to flash a message along the wires; to flash conviction on the mind.
3. (Glass Making) To cover with a thin layer, as objects of glass with glass of a different color. See Flashing, n. , 3 (b).
4. To trick up in a showy manner.
"Limning and flashing it with various dyes." A. Brewer.
5. [Perh. due to confusion between flash of light and plash, splash.] To strike and throw up large bodies of water from the surface; to splash. [Obs.]
"He rudely flashed the waves about." Spenser. Flashed glass. See Flashing, n. , 3.

Flash, n. ; pl. Flashes .
1. A sudden burst of light; a flood of light instantaneously appearing and disappearing; a momentary blaze; as a flash of lightning.
2. A sudden and brilliant burst, as of wit or genius; a momentary brightness or show.
"The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind." Shak.
"No striking sentiment, no flash of fancy." Wirt.
3. The time during which a flash is visible; an instant; a very brief period.
"The Persians and Macedonians had it for a flash." Bacon.
4. A preparation of capsicum, burnt sugar, etc., for coloring and giving a fictitious strength to liquors. Flash light, or Flashing light, a kind of light shown by lighthouses, produced by the revolution of reflectors, so as to show a flash of light every few seconds, alternating with periods of dimness. Knight. — Flash in the pan, the flashing of the priming in the pan of a flintlock musket without discharging the piece; hence, sudden, spasmodic effort that accomplishes nothing.

Flash, a.
1. Showy, but counterfeit; cheap, pretentious, and vulgar; as flash jewelry; flash finery.
2. Wearing showy, counterfeit ornaments; vulgarly pretentious; as flash people; flash men or women; — applied especially to thieves, gamblers, and prostitutes that dress in a showy way and wear much cheap jewelry. Flash house, a house frequented by flash people, as thieves and whores; hence, a brothel. "A gang of footpads, reveling with their favorite beauties at a flash house." Macaulay.

Flash, n. Slang or cant of thieves and prostitutes.

Flash, n. [OE. flasche, flaske; cf. OF. flache, F. flaque.]
1. A pool. [Prov. Eng.] Haliwell.
2. (Engineering) A reservoir and sluiceway beside a navigable stream, just above a shoal, so that the stream may pour in water as boats pass, and thus bear them over the shoal. Flash wheel (Mech.), a paddle wheel made to revolve in a breast or curved water way, by which water is lifted from the lower to the higher level.

Flash boiler. A variety of water-tube boiler, used chiefly in steam automobiles, consisting of a nest of strong tubes with very little water space, kept nearly red hot so that the water as it trickles drop by drop into the tubes is immediately flashed into steam and superheated.

Flash burner. A gas burner with a device for lighting by an electric spark.

Flashboard
Flash´board, n. A board placed temporarily upon a milldam, to raise the water in the pond above its usual level; a flushboard. [U.S.]

Flasher
Flash´er, n.
1. One who, or that which, flashes.
2. A man of more appearance of wit than reality.
3. (Zoöl.) (a) A large sparoid fish of the Atlantic coast and all tropical seas ( Lobotes Surinamensis). (b) The European red-backed shrike ( Lanius collurio); — called also flusher.

Flashily
Flash´i•ly, adv. In a flashy manner; with empty show.

Flashiness
Flash´i•ness, n. The quality of being flashy.

Flashing
Flash´ing, n.
1. (Engineering) The creation of an artifical flood by the sudden letting in of a body of water; — called also flushing.
2. (Arch.) Pieces of metal, built into the joints of a wall, so as to lap over the edge of the gutters or to cover the edge of the roofing; also similar pieces used to cover the valleys of roofs of slate, shingles, or the like. By extension, the metal covering of ridges and hips of roofs; also in the United States, the protecting of angles and breaks in walls of frame houses with waterproof material, tarred paper, or the like. Cf. Filleting.
3. (Glass Making) (a) The reheating of an article at the furnace aperture during manufacture to restore its plastic condition; esp., the reheating of a globe of crown glass to allow it to assume a flat shape as it is rotated. (b) A mode of covering transparent white glass with a film of colored glass. Knight. Flashing point (Chem.), that degree of temperature at which a volatile oil gives off vapor in sufficient quantity to burn, or flash, on the approach of a flame, used as a test of the comparative safety of oils, esp. kerosene; a flashing point of 100° F. is regarded as a fairly safe standard. The burning point of the oil is usually from ten to thirty degree above the flashing point of its vapor.

Flask, n. [AS. flasce, flaxe; akin to D. flesch, OHG. flasca, G. flasche, Icel. & Sw. flaska, Dan. flaske, OF. flasche, LL. flasca, flasco; of uncertain origin; cf. L. vasculum, dim. of vas a vessel, Gr.,, . Cf. Flagon, Flasket.]
1. A small bottle-shaped vessel for holding fluids; as a flask of oil or wine.
2. A narrow-necked vessel of metal or glass, used for various purposes; as of sheet metal, to carry gunpowder in; or of wrought iron, to contain quicksilver; or of glass, to heat water in, etc.
3. A bed in a gun carriage. [Obs.] Bailey.
4. (Founding) The wooden or iron frame which holds the sand, etc., forming the mold used in a foundry; it consists of two or more parts; viz., the cope or top; sometimes, the cheeks, or middle part; and the drag, or bottom part. When there are one or more cheeks, the flask is called a three part flask, four part flask, etc. Erlenmeyer flask, a thin glass flask, flat- bottomed and cone-shaped to allow of safely shaking its contents laterally without danger of spilling; — so called from Erlenmeyer, a German chemist who invented it. — Florence flask. [From Florence in Italy.] (a) Same as Betty, n. , 3. (b) A glass flask, round or pear-shaped, with round or flat bottom, and usually very thin to allow of heating solutions. — Pocket flask, a kind of pocket dram bottle, often covered with metal or leather to protect it from breaking.

Flat, a. [ Compar. Flatter superl. Flattest ] [Akin to Icel. flatr, Sw. flat, Dan. flad, OHG. flaz, and AS. flet floor, G. flötz stratum, layer.]
1. Having an even and horizontal surface, or nearly so, without prominences or depressions; level without inclination; plane.
"Though sun and moon Were in the flat sea sunk." Milton.
2. Lying at full length, or spread out, upon the ground; level with the ground or earth; prostrate; as to lie flat on the ground; hence, fallen; laid low; ruined; destroyed.
"What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat!" Milton.
"I feel … my hopes all flat." Milton.
3. (Fine Arts) Wanting relief; destitute of variety; without points of prominence and striking interest.
"A large part of the work is, to me, very flat." Coleridge.
4. Tasteless; stale; vapid; insipid; dead; as fruit or drink flat to the taste.
5. Unanimated; dull; uninteresting; without point or spirit; monotonous; as a flat speech or composition.
"How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world." Shak.
6. Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull; as the market is flat.
7. Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright.
"Flat burglary as ever was committed." Shak.
"A great tobacco taker too, — that’s flat." Marston.
8. (Mus.) (a) Below the true pitch; hence, as applied to intervals, minor, or lower by a half step; as a flat seventh; A flat. (b) Not sharp or shrill; not acute; as a flat sound.
9. (Phonetics) Sonant; vocal; — applied to any one of the sonant or vocal consonants, as distinguished from a nonsonant (or sharp) consonant. Flat arch. (Arch.) See under Arch, n. , 2. ( b). — Flat cap, cap paper, not folded. See under Paper. — Flat chasing, in fine art metal working, a mode of ornamenting silverware, etc., producing figures by dots and lines made with a punching tool. Knight. — Flat chisel, a sculptor’s chisel for smoothing. — Flat file, a file wider than its thickness, and of rectangular section. See File. — Flat nail, a small, sharp- pointed, wrought nail, with a flat, thin head, larger than a tack. Knight. — Flat paper, paper which has not been folded. — Flat rail, a railroad rail consisting of a simple flat bar spiked to a longitudinal sleeper. — Flat rods (Mining), horizontal or inclined connecting rods, for transmitting motion to pump rods at a distance. Raymond. — Flat rope, a rope made by plaiting instead of twisting; gasket; sennit. Some flat hoisting ropes, as for mining shafts, are made by sewing together a number of ropes, making a wide, flat band. Knight. — Flat space. (Geom.) See Euclidian space. — Flat stitch, the process of wood engraving. [Obs.] — Flat tint (Painting), a coat of water color of one uniform shade. — To fall flat (Fig.), to produce no effect; to fail in the intended effect; as his speech fell flat.
"Of all who fell by saber or by shot, Not one fell half so flat as Walter Scott." Lord Erskine.

Flat, adv.
1. In a flat manner; directly; flatly.
"Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty." Herbert.
2. (Stock Exchange) Without allowance for accrued interest. [Broker’s Cant]

Flat, n.
1. A level surface, without elevation, relief, or prominences; an extended plain; specifically, in the United States, a level tract along the along the banks of a river; as the Mohawk Flats.
"Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat." Bacon.
2. A level tract lying at little depth below the surface of water, or alternately covered and left bare by the tide; a shoal; a shallow; a strand.
"Half my power, this night Passing these flats, are taken by the tide." Shak.
3. Something broad and flat in form; as: (a) A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught. (b) A straw hat, broad- brimmed and low-crowned. (c) (Railroad Mach.) A car without a roof, the body of which is a platform without sides; a platform car. (d) A platform on wheel, upon which emblematic designs, etc., are carried in processions.
4. The flat part, or side, of anything; as the broad side of a blade, as distinguished from its edge.
5. (Arch.) A floor, loft, or story in a building; especially, a floor of a house, which forms a complete residence in itself.
6. (Mining) A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal. Raymond.
7. A dull fellow; a simpleton; a numskull. [Colloq.]
"Or if you can not make a speech, Because you are a flat." Holmes.
8. (Mus.) A character [♭] before a note, indicating a tone which is a half step or semitone lower.
9. (Geom.) A homaloid space or extension.

Flat, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flatted p. pr. & vb. n. Flatting ]
1. To make flat; to flatten; to level.
2. To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.
"Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted." Barrow.
3. To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.

Flat, v. i.
1. To become flat, or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface. Sir W. Temple.
2. (Mus.) To fall form the pitch. To flat out, to fail from a promising beginning; to make a bad ending; to disappoint expectations. [Colloq.]

Flat, a.
1. (Golf) Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft; — said of a club.
2. (Gram.) Not having an inflectional ending or sign, as a noun used as an adjective, or an adjective as an adverb, without the addition of a formative suffix, or an infinitive without the sign to. Many flat adverbs, as in run fast, buy cheap, are from AS. adverbs in -ë, the loss of this ending having made them like the adjectives. Some having forms in ly, such as exceeding, wonderful, true, are now archaic.
3. (Hort.) Flattening at the ends; — said of certain fruits.

Flat foot
Flat" foot (Med.) A foot in which the arch of the instep is flattened so that the entire sole of the foot rests upon the ground; also the deformity, usually congential, exhibited by such a foot; splayfoot.

Flatbill
Flat´bill, n. (Zoöl.) Any bird of the genus Flatyrynchus. They belong to the family of flycatchers.

Flatboat
Flat´boat, n. A boat with a flat bottom and square ends; — used for the transportation of bulky freight, especially in shallow waters.

Flat-bottomed
Flat´-bot•tomed, a. Having an even lower surface or bottom; as a flat-bottomed boat.

Flat-cap
Flat´-cap, n. A kind of low- crowned cap formerly worn by all classes in England, and continued in London after disuse elsewhere; — hence, a citizen of London. Marston.

Flatfish
Flat´fish, n. (Zoöl.) Any fish of the family Pleuronectidae; esp., the winter flounder ( Pleuronectes Americanus). The flatfishes have the body flattened, swim on the side, and have eyes on one side, as the flounder, turbot, and halibut. See Flounder.

Flathead
Flat´head, a. Characterized by flatness of head, especially that produced by artificial means, as a certain tribe of American Indians.

Flathead
Flat´head, n. (Ethnol.) A Chinook Indian. See Chinook, n. , 1.

Flatiron
Flat´i•ron, n. An iron with a flat, smooth surface for ironing clothes.

Flative
Fla´tive, a. [L. flare, flatum to blow.] Producing wind; flatulent. [Obs.] A. Brewer.

Flatling
Flat´ling, adv. [ Flat, a. + adverbial suff. -ling.] With the flat side, as of a sword; flatlong; in a prostrate position. [Obs.] Spenser.

Flatlong
Flat´long ( 115), adv. With the flat side downward; not edgewise. Shak.

Flatly
Flat´ly, adv. In a flat manner; evenly; horizontally; without spirit; dully; frigidly; peremptorily; positively; plainly. "He flatly refused his aid." Sir P. Sidney.
"He that does the works of religion slowly, flatly, and without appetite." Jer. Taylor.

Flatness
Flat´ness, n.
1. The quality or state of being flat.
2. Eveness of surface; want of relief or prominence; the state of being plane or level.
3. Want of vivacity or spirit; prostration; dejection; depression.
4. Want of variety or flavor; dullness; insipidity.
5. Depression of tone; the state of being below the true pitch; — opposed to sharpness or acuteness.

Flatour
Fla•tour´, n. [OF.] A flatterer. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Flatten
Flat´ten (flat"t’n), v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flattened p. pr. & vb. n. Flattening.] [From Flat, a. ]
1. To reduce to an even surface or one approaching evenness; to make flat; to level; to make plane.
2. To throw down; to bring to the ground; to prostrate; hence, to depress; to deject; to dispirit.
3. To make vapid or insipid; to render stale.
4. (Mus.) To lower the pitch of; to cause to sound less sharp; to let fall from the pitch. To flatten a sail (Naut.), to set it more nearly fore-and-aft of the vessel. — Flattening oven, in glass making, a heated chamber in which split glass cylinders are flattened for window glass.

Flatten
Flat´ten, v. i. To become or grow flat, even, depressed, dull, vapid, spiritless, or depressed below pitch.

Flatter
Flat´ter (flat"ter), n.
1. One who, or that which, makes flat or flattens.
2. (Metal Working) (a) A flat-faced fulling hammer. (b) A drawplate with a narrow, rectangular orifice, for drawing flat strips, as watch springs, etc.

Flatter
Flat´ter, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flattered p. pr. & vb. n. Flattering.] [OE. flateren, cf. OD. flatteren; akin to G. flattern to flutter, Icel. flara to fawn, flatter: cf. F. flatter. Cf. Flitter, Flutter, Flattery.]
1. To treat with praise or blandishments; to gratify or attempt to gratify the self-love or vanity of, esp. by artful and interested commendation or attentions; to blandish; to cajole; to wheedle.
"When I tell him he hates flatterers, He says he does, being then most flattered." Shak.
"A man that flattereth his neighbor, spreadeth a net for his feet." Prov. xxix. 5.
"Others he flattered by asking their advice." Prescott.
2. To raise hopes in; to encourage or favorable, but sometimes unfounded or deceitful, representations.
3. To portray too favorably; to give a too favorable idea of; as his portrait flatters him.

Flatter
Flat´ter, v. i. To use flattery or insincere praise.
"If it may stand him more in stead to lie, Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or adjure." Milton.

Flatterer
Flat´ter•er, n. One who flatters.
"The most abject flaterers degenerate into the greatest tyrants." Addison.

Flattering
Flat´ter•ing, a. That flatters (in the various senses of the verb); as a flattering speech.
"Lay not that flattering unction to your soul." Shak.
"A flattering painter, who made it his care, To draw men as they ought be, not as they are." Goldsmith.

Flatteringly
Flat´ter•ing•ly, adv. With flattery.

Flattery
Flat´ter•y, n. ; pl. Flatteries (#). [OE. flaterie, OF. flaterie, F. flaterie, fr. flater to flatter, F. flatter; of uncertain origin. See Flatter, v. t.] The act or practice of flattering; the act of pleasing by artful commendation or compliments; adulation; false, insincere, or excessive praise.
"Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present." Rambler.
"Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver." Burke.
Syn. — Adulation; compliment; obsequiousness. See Adulation.

Flatulent
Flat´u•lent, a. [L. flatus a blowing, flatus ventris windiness, flatulence, fr. flare to blow: cf. F. flatulent. See Blow.]
1. Affected with flatus or gases generated in the alimentary canal; windy.
2. Generating, or tending to generate, wind in the stomach.
"Vegetables abound more with aërial particles than animal substances, and therefore are more flatulent." Arbuthnot.
3. Turgid with flatus; as a flatulent tumor. Quincy.
4. Pretentious without substance or reality; puffy; empty; vain; as a flatulent vanity.
"He is too flatulent sometimes, and sometimes too dry." Dryden.

Flatuosity
Flat•u•os´i•ty, n. [Cf. F. flatuosite.] Flatulence. [Obs.] Bacon.

Flatuous
Flat´u•ous, a. [Cf. F. flatueux.] Windy; generating wind. [Obs.] Bacon.

Flatus
Fla´tus, n. ; pl. E. Flatuses (#), L. Flatus. [L., fr. flare to blow.]
1. A breath; a puff of wind. Clarke.
2. Wind or gas generated in the stomach or other cavities of the body. Quincy.

Flatware
Flat´ware, n. Articles for the table, as china or silverware, that are more or less flat, as distinguished from hollow ware. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Flatware
Flat´ware, n. Articles for the table, as china or silverware, that are more or less flat, as distinguished from hollow ware.

Flatwise
Flat´wise, a. or adv. With the flat side downward, or next to another object; not edgewise.

Flatworm
Flat´worm, n. (Zoöl.) Any worm belonging to the Plathelminthes; also sometimes applied to the planarians.

Flaundrish
Flaun´drish, a. Flemish. [Obs.]

Flaunt (flänt or flant; 277), v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flaunted; p. pr. & vb. n.. Flaunting.] [Cf. dial. G. flandern to flutter, wave; perh. akin to E. flatter, flutter.] To throw or spread out; to flutter; to move ostentatiously; as a flaunting show.
"You flaunt about the streets in your new gilt chariot." Arbuthnot.
"One flaunts in rags, one flutters in brocade." Pope.

Flaunt, v. t. To display ostentatiously; to make an impudent show of.

Flaunt, n. Anything displayed for show. [Obs.]
"In these my borrowed flaunts." Shak.

Flauntingly
Flaunt´ing•ly, adv. In a flaunting way.

Flautist
Flau´tist, n. [It. flauto a flute See Flute.] A player on the flute; a flutist.

Flavaniline
Fla•van´i•line (? or 104), n. [L. flavus yellow + E. aniline.] (Chem.) A yellow, crystalline, organic dyestuff, C₁₆H₁₄N₂, of artifical production. It is a strong base, and is a complex derivative of aniline and quinoline.

Flavescent
Fla•ves´cent, a. [L. flavescens, p. pr. of flavescere to turn yellow.] Turning yellow; yellowish.

Flavicomous
Fla•vic´o•mous, a. [L. flavicomus; flavus yellow + coma hair.] Having yellow hair. [R.]

Flavin
Fla´vin, n. [L. flavus yellow.] (Chem.) A yellow, vegetable dyestuff, resembling quercitron.

Flavine
Fla´vine ( 104), n. (Chem.) A yellow, crystalline, organic base, C₁₃H₁₂N₂O, obtained artificially.

Flavol
Fla´vol, n. [L. flavus yellow + -oil.] (Chem.) A yellow, crystalline substance, obtained from anthraquinone, and regarded as a hydroxyl derivative of it.

Flavor
Fla´vor, n. [OF. fleur, flaur (two syllables), odor, cf. F. fleurer to emit an odor, It. flatore a bad odor, prob. fr. L. flare to bow, whence the sense of exhalation. Cf. Blow.] [Written also flavour.]
1. That quality of anything which affects the smell; odor; fragrances; as the flavor of a rose.
2. That quality of anything which affects the taste; that quality which gratifies the palate; relish; zest; savor; as the flavor of food or drink.
3. That which imparts to anything a peculiar odor or taste, gratifying to the sense of smell, or the nicer perceptions of the palate; a substance which flavors.
4. That quality which gives character to any of the productions of literature or the fine arts.

Flavor
Fla´vor, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flavored p. pr. & vb. n. Flavoring.] To give flavor to; to add something (as salt or a spice) to, to give character or zest.

Flavorless
Fla´vor•less, a. Without flavor; tasteless.

Flavorous
Fla´vor•ous, a. Imparting flavor; pleasant to the taste or smell; sapid. Dryden.

Flavous
Fla´vous, a. [L. flavus.] Yellow. [Obs.]

Flaw (fla), n. [OE. flai, flaw flake; cf. Sw. flaga flaw, crack, breach, flake, D. vlaag gust of wind, Norw. flage, flaag, and E. flag a flat stone.]
1. A crack or breach; a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion; as a flaw in a knife or a vase.
"This heart Shall break into a hundered thousand flaws." Shak.
2. A defect; a fault; as a flaw in reputation; a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute.
"Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?" South.
3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder; a tumult; uproar; a quarrel. [Obs.]
"And deluges of armies from the town Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw." Dryden.
4. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration.
"Snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw." Milton.
"Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn." Tennyson.
Syn. — Blemish; fault; imperfection; spot; speck.

Flaw, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flawed (flad); p. pr. & vb. n. Flawing.]
1. To crack; to make flaws in.
"The brazen caldrons with the frosts are flawed." Dryden.
2. To break; to violate; to make of no effect. [Obs.]
"France hath flawed the league." Shak.

Flawn (flan), n. [OF. flaon, F. flan, LL. flado, fr. OHG. flado, G. fladen, a sort of pancake; cf. Gr. broad. See Place.] A sort of flat custard or pie. [Obs.] Tusser.

Flax (flaks), n. [AS. fleax; akin to D. vlas, OHG. flahs, G. flachs, and prob. to flechten to braid, plait,m twist, L. plectere to weave, plicare to fold, Gr. to weave, plait. See Ply.]
1. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Linum, esp. the L. usitatissimum, which has a single, slender stalk, about a foot and a half high, with blue flowers. The fiber of the bark is used for making thread and cloth, called linen, cambric, lawn, lace, etc. Linseed oil is expressed from the seed.
2. The skin or fibrous part of the flax plant, when broken and cleaned by hatcheling or combing. Earth flax (Min.), amianthus. — Flax brake, a machine for removing the woody portion of flax from the fibrous. — Flax comb, a hatchel, hackle, or heckle. — Flax cotton, the fiber of flax, reduced by steeping in bicarbonate of soda and acidulated liquids, and prepared for bleaching and spinning like cotton. Knight. — Flax dresser, one who breaks and swingles flax, or prepares it for the spinner. — Flax mill, a mill or factory where flax is spun or linen manufactured. — Flax puller, a machine for pulling flax plants in the field. — Flax wench. (a) A woman who spins flax. [Obs.] (b) A prostitute. [Obs.] Shak. — Mountain flax (Min.), amianthus. — New Zealand flax (Bot.) See Flax- plant.

Flax-plant
Flax´-plant, n. (Bot.) A plant in new Zealand ( Phormium tenax), allied to the lilies and aloes. The leaves are two inches wide and several feet long, and furnish a fiber which is used for making ropes, mats, and coarse cloth.

Flaxseed
Flax´seed, n. The seed of the flax; linseed.

Flaxweed
Flax´weed, n. (Bot.) See Toadflax.

Flay (fla), v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flayed (flad); p. pr. & vb. n. Flaying.] [OE. flean, flan, AS. fleán; akin to D. vlaen, Icel. fla, Sw. flå, Dan. flaae, cf. Lith. pleszti to tear, plyszti, v.i., to burst, tear; perh. akin to E. flag a flat stone, flaw.] To skin; to strip off the skin or surface of; as to flay an ox; to flay the green earth.
"With her nails She ’ll flay thy wolfish visage." Shak.

Flea (fle), v. t. [See Flay.] To flay. [Obs.]
"He will be fleaed first And horse collars made of’s skin." J. Fletcher.

Flea, n. [OE. fle, flee, AS. fleá, fleáh; akin to D. vtoo, OHG. floh, G. floh, Icel. flo, Russ. blocha; prob. from the root of E. flee. rad.84. See Flee.] (Zoöl.) An insect belonging to the genus Pulex, of the order Aphaniptera. Fleas are destitute of wings, but have the power of leaping energetically. The bite is poisonous to most persons. The human flea ( Pulex irritans), abundant in Europe, is rare in America, where the dog flea ( P. canis) takes its place. See Aphaniptera, and Dog flea. See Illustration in Appendix. A flea in the ear, an unwelcome hint or unexpected reply, annoying like a flea; an irritating repulse; as to put a flea in one’s ear; to go away with a flea in one’s ear. — Beach flea, Black flea, etc. See under Beach, etc.

Flea-beetle
Flea´-bee•tle, n. (Zoöl.) A small beetle of the family Halticidae, of many species. They have strong posterior legs and leap like fleas. The turnip flea-beetle ( Phyllotreta vittata) and that of the grapevine ( Graptodera chalybea) are common injurious species.

Flea-bite
Flea´-bite, n.
1. The bite of a flea, or the red spot caused by the bite.
2. A trifling wound or pain, like that of the bite of a flea. Harvey.

Flea-bitten
Flea´-bit•ten, a.
1. Bitten by a flea; as a flea-bitten face.
2. White, flecked with minute dots of bay or sorrel; — said of the color of a horse.

Fleagh (fle), obs. imp. of Fly.

Fleaking
Fleak´ing, n. A light covering of reeds, over which the main covering is laid, in thatching houses. [Prov. Eng.] Wright.

Flea-louse
Flea´-louse, n. (Zoöl.) A jumping plant louse of the family Psyllidae, of many species. That of the pear tree is Psylla pyri.

Fleam, n. [F. flamme, OF. flieme, fr. LL. flevotomum, phlebotomum; cf. D. vlijm. See Phlebotomy.] (Surg. & Far.) A sharp instrument used for opening veins, lancing gums, etc.; a kind of lancet. Fleam tooth, a tooth of a saw shaped like an isosceles triangle; a peg tooth. Knight.

Flear, v. t. & i. See Fleer.

Flèche, n. [F. flèche, prop., an arrow.] (Fort.) A simple fieldwork, consisting of two faces forming a salient angle pointing outward and open at the gorge.

Fleck (flek), n. A flake; also a lock, as of wool. [Obs.] J. Martin.

Fleck, n. [Cf. Icel. flekkr; akin to Sw. fläck, D. vlek, G. fleck, and perh. to E. flitch.] A spot; a streak; a speckle. "A sunny fleck." Longfellow.
"Life is dashed with flecks of sin." tennyson.

Fleck, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flecked p. pr. & vb. n. Flecking.] [Cf. Icel. flekka, Sw. fläcka, D. vlekken, vlakken, G. flecken. See Fleck, n. ] To spot; to streak or stripe; to variegate; to dapple.
"Both flecked with white, the true Arcadian strain." Dryden.
"A bird, a cloud, flecking the sunny air." Trench.

Fleckless
Fleck´less, a. Without spot or blame. [R.]
"My consnience will not count me fleckless." Tennyson.

Flection
Flec´tion, n. [See Flexion.]
1. The act of bending, or state of being bent.
2. The variation of words by declension, comparison, or conjugation; inflection.

Flector
Flec´tor, n. A flexor.

Fled, imp. & p. p. of Flee.

Flee (fle), v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Fled (fled); p. pr. & vb. n. Fleeing.] [OE. fleon, fleen, AS. fleón ( imperf. fleáh); akin to D. vlieden, OHG. & OS. fliohan, G. fliehen, Icel. flyja (imperf. flyði), Dan. flye, Sw. fly (imperf. flydde), Goth. þliuhan. rad.84. Cf. Flight.] To run away, as from danger or evil; to avoid in an alarmed or cowardly manner; to hasten off; — usually with from. This is sometimes omitted, making the verb transitive.
"[He] cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke." Shak.
"Flee fornication." 1 Cor. vi. 18.
"So fled his enemies my warlike father." Shak. When great speed is to be indicated, we commonly use fly, not flee; as fly hence to France with the utmost speed. "Whither shall I fly to ’scape their hands?" Shak. See Fly, v. i., 5.

Fleeceless
Fleece´less, a. Without a fleece.

Fleecer
Flee´cer, n. One who fleeces or strips unjustly, especially by trickery or fraund. Prynne.

Fleecy
Flee´cy, a. Covered with, made of, or resembling, a fleece. "Fleecy flocks." Prior.

Fleen, n. pl. Obs. pl. of Flea. Chaucer.

Fleerer
Fleer´er, n. One who fleers. Beau. & Fl.

Fleeringly
Fleer´ing•ly, adv. In a fleering manner.

Fleet, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Fleeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Fleeting.] [OE. fleten, fleoten, to swim, AS. fleótan to swim, float; akin to D. vlieten to flow, OS. fliotan, OHG. fliozzan, G. fliessen, Icel. fljota to float, flow, Sw. flyta, D. flyde, L. pluere to rain, Gr. to sail, swim, float, Skr. pl. to swim, sail. rad.84. Cf. Fleet, n. & a., Float, Pluvial, Flow.]
1. To sail; to float. [Obs.]
"And in frail wood on Adrian Gulf doth fleet." Spenser.
2. To fly swiftly; to pass over quickly; to hasten; to flit as a light substance.
"All the unaccomplished works of Nature’s hand, … Dissolved on earth, fleet hither." Milton.
3. (Naut.) To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; — said of a cable or hawser.

Fleet, v. t.
1. To pass over rapidly; to skin the surface of; as a ship that fleets the gulf. Spenser.
2. To hasten over; to cause to pass away lighty, or in mirth and joy.
"Many young gentlemen flock to him, and fleet the time carelessly." Shak.
3. (Naut.) (a) To draw apart the blocks of; — said of a tackle. Totten. (b) To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.

Fleet, a. [ Compar. Fleeter superl. Fleetest.] [Cf. Icel. fljtr quick. See Fleet, v. i.]
1. Swift in motion; moving with velocity; light and quick in going from place to place; nimble.
"In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong." Milton.
2. Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil. [Prov. Eng.] Mortimer.

Fleet, n. [OE. flete, fleote, AS. fleót ship, fr. fleótan to float, swim. See Fleet, v. i. and cf. Float.] A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also the collective naval force of a country, etc. Fleet captain, the senior aid of the admiral of a fleet, when a captain. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

Fleet, n. [AS. fleót a place where vessels float, bay, river; akin to D. vliet rill, brook, G. fliess. See Fleet, v. i.]
1. A flood; a creek or inlet; a bay or estuary; a river; — obsolete, except as a place name, — as Fleet Street in London.
"Together wove we nets to entrap the fish In floods and sedgy fleets." Matthewes.
2. A former prison in London, which originally stood near a stream, the Fleet (now filled up). Fleet parson, a clergyman of low character, in, or in the vicinity of, the Fleet prison, who was ready to unite persons in marriage (called Fleet marriage) at any hour, without public notice, witnesses, or consent of parents.

Fleet, v. t. [AS. flet cream, fr. fleótan to float. See Fleet, v. i.] To take the cream from; to skim. [Prov. Eng.] Johnson.

Fleet, v. i. (Naut.) To move or change in position; — said of persons; as the crew fleeted aft.

Fleet
Fleet´, v. t. (Naut.) To move or change in position; used only in special phrases; as of fleet aft the crew.
"We got the long "stick" … down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured." F. T. Bullen.

Fleeten
Fleet´en, n. Fleeted or skimmed milk. [Obs.] Fleeten face, a face of the color of fleeten, i. e., blanched; hence, a coward. "You know where you are, you fleeten face." Beau. & Fl.

Fleet-foot
Fleet´-foot, a. Swift of foot. Shak.

Fleeting
Fleet´ing, a. Passing swiftly away; not durable; transient; transitory; as the fleeting hours or moments.
Syn. — Evanescent; ephemeral. See Transient.

Fleetings
Fleet´ings, n. pl. A mixture of buttermilk and boiling whey; curds. [prov. Eng.] Wright.

Fleetly
Fleet´ly, adv. In a fleet manner; rapidly.

Fleetness
Fleet´ness, n. Swiftness; rapidity; velocity; celerity; speed; as the fleetness of a horse or of time.

Fleigh, obs. imp. of Fly. Chaucer.

Flemer
Flem´er, n. One who, or that which, banishes or expels. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Fleming
Flem´ing, n. A native or inhabitant of Flanders.

Flemish
Flem´ish, a. Pertaining to Flanders, or the Flemings. — n. The language or dialect spoken by the Flemings; also collectively, the people of Flanders. Flemish accounts (Naut.), short or deficient accounts. [Humorous] Ham. Nav. Encyc. — Flemish beauty (Bot.), a well known pear. It is one of few kinds which have a red color on one side. — Flemish bond. (Arch.) See Bond, n. , 8. — Flemish brick, a hard yellow paving brick. — Flemish coil, a flat coil of rope with the end in the center and the turns lying against, without riding over, each other. — Flemish eye (Naut.), an eye formed at the end of a rope by dividing the strands and lying them over each other. — Flemish horse (Naut.), an additional footrope at the end of a yard.

Flesh, n. [OE. flesch, flesc, AS. flsc; akin to OFries. flask, D. vleesch, OS. flsk, OHG. fleisc, G. fleisch, Icel. & Dan. flesk lard, bacon, pork, Sw. fläsk.]
1. The aggregate of the muscles, fat, and other tissues which cover the framework of bones in man and other animals; especially, the muscles. In composition it is mainly albuminous, but contains in adition a large number of crystalline bodies, such as creatin, xanthin, hypoxanthin, carnin, etc. It is also rich in phosphate of potash.
2. Animal food, in distinction from vegetable; meat; especially, the body of beasts and birds used as food, as distinguished from fish.
"With roasted flesh, or milk, and wastel bread." Chaucer.
3. The human body, as distinguished from the soul; the corporeal person.
"As if this flesh, which walls about our life, Were brass impregnable." Shak.
4. The human eace; mankind; humanity.
"All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." Gen. vi. 12.
5. Human nature: (a) In a good sense, tenderness of feeling; gentleness.
"There is no flesh in man’s obdurate heart." Cowper. (b) In a bad sense, tendency to transient or physical pleasure; desire for sensual gratification; carnality. (c) (Theol.) The character under the influence of animal propensities or selfish passions; the soul unmoved by spiritual influences.
6. Kindred; stock; race.
"He is our brother and our flesh." Gen. xxxvii. 27.
7. The soft, pulpy substance of fruit; also that part of a root, fruit, and the like, which is fit to be eaten. Flesh is often used adjectively or self-explaining compounds; as flesh broth or flesh-broth; flesh brush or fleshbrush; flesh tint or flesh-tint; flesh wound. After the flesh, after the manner of man; in a gross or earthly manner. "Ye judge after the flesh." John viii. 15. — An arm of flesh, human strength or aid. — Flesh and blood. See under Blood. — Flesh broth, broth made by boiling flesh in water. — Flesh fly (Zoöl.), one of several species of flies whose larvae or maggots feed upon flesh, as the bluebottle fly; — called also meat fly, carrion fly, and blowfly. See Blowly. — Flesh meat, animal food. Swift. — Flesh side, the side of a skin or hide which was next to the flesh; — opposed to grain side. — Flesh tint (Painting), a color used in painting to imitate the hue of the living body. — Flesh worm (Zoöl.), any insect larva of a flesh fly. See Flesh fly (above). — Proud flesh. See under Proud. — To be one flesh, to be closely united as in marriage; to become as one person. Gen. ii. 24.

Flesh, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Fleshed p. pr. & vb. n. Fleshing.]
1. To feed with flesh, as an incitement to further exertion; to initiate; — from the practice of training hawks and dogs by feeding them with the first game they take, or other flesh. Hence, to use upon flesh (as a murderous weapon) so as to draw blood, especially for the first time.
"Full bravely hast thou fleshed Thy maiden sword." Shak.
"The wild dog Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent." Shak.
2. To glut; to satiate; hence, to harden, to accustom. "Fleshed in triumphs." Glanvill.
"Old soldiers Fleshed in the spoils of Germany and France." Beau. & Fl.
3. (Leather Manufacture) To remove flesh, membrance, etc., from, as from hides.

Flesher
Flesh´er, n.
1. A butcher.
"A flesher on a block had laid his whittle down." Macaulay.
2. A two-handled, convex, blunt-edged knife, for scraping hides; a fleshing knife.

Fleshhood
Flesh´hood, n. The state or condition of having a form of flesh; incarnation. [R.]
"Thou, who hast thyself Endured this fleshhood." Mrs. Browning.

Fleshiness
Flesh´i•ness, n. The state of being fleshy; plumpness; corpulence; grossness. Milton.

Fleshings
Flesh´ings, n. pl. Flesh- colored tights, worn by actors and dancers. D. Jerrold.

Fleshless
Flesh´less, a. Destitute of flesh; lean. Carlyle.

Fleshliness
Flesh´li•ness, n. The state of being fleshly; carnal passions and appetites. Spenser.

Fleshling
Flesh´ling, n. A person devoted to fleshly things. [Obs.] Spenser.

Fleshly
Flesh´ly (-ly), a. [AS. flaesclic.]
1. Of or pertaining to the flesh; corporeal. "Fleshly bondage." Denham.
2. Animal; not vegetable. Dryden.
3. Human; not celestial; not spiritual or divine. "Fleshly wisdom." 2 Cor. i. 12.
"Much ostentation vain of fleshly arm And fragile arms." Milton.
4. Carnal; wordly; lascivious.
"Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." 1 Pet. ii. 11.

Fleshly
Flesh´ly, adv. In a fleshly manner; carnally; lasciviously. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Fleshment
Flesh´ment, n. The act of fleshing, or the excitement attending a successful beginning. [R.] Shak.

Fleshmonger
Flesh´mon•ger, n. [AS. flaesc mangere.] One who deals in flesh; hence, a pimp; a procurer; a pander. [R.] Shak.

Fleshpot
Flesh´pot, n. A pot or vessel in which flesh is cooked; hence ( pl. ), plenty; high living.
"In the land of Egypt … we sat by the fleshpots, and … did eat bread to the full." Ex. xvi. 3.

Fleshquake
Flesh´quake, n. A quaking or trembling of the flesh; a quiver. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Fleshy
Flesh´y, a. [ Compar. Fleshier superl. Fleshiest ]
1. Full of, or composed of, flesh; plump; corpulent; fat; gross.
"The sole of his foot is fleshy." Ray.
2. Human. [Obs.] "Fleshy tabernacle." Milton.
3. (Bot.) Composed of firm pulp; succulent; as the houseleek, cactus, and agave are fleshy plants.

Flete, v. i. [See Fleet, v. i.] To float; to swim. [Obs.] "Whether I sink or flete." Chaucer.

Fleur-de-lis
Fleur•-de-lis, n. ; pl. Fleurs-de-lis (#). [F., flower of the lily. Cf. Flower-de-luce, Lily.]
1. (Bot.) The iris. See Flower-de-luce.
2. A conventional flower suggested by the iris, and having a form which fits it for the terminal decoration of a scepter, the ornaments of a crown, etc. It is also a heraldic bearing, and is identified with the royal arms and adornments of France.

Flews, n. pl. The pendulous or overhanging lateral parts of the upper lip of dogs, especially prominent in hounds; — called also chaps. See Illust. of Bloodhound.

Flexanimous
Flex•an´i•mous, a. [L. flexanimus; flectere, flexum, to bend + animus mind.] Having power to change the mind. [Obs.] Howell.

Flexibility
Flex•i•bil´i•ty, n. [L. flexibilitas: cf. F. flexibilite.] The state or quality of being flexible; flexibleness; pliancy; pliability; as the flexibility of strips of hemlock, hickory, whalebone or metal, or of rays of light. Sir I. Newton.
"All the flexibility of a veteran courtier." Macaulay.

Flexible
Flex´i•ble, a. [L. flexibilis: cf. F. flexible.]
1. Capable of being flexed or bent; admitting of being turned, bowed, or twisted, without breaking; pliable; yielding to pressure; not stiff or brittle.
"When the splitting wind Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks." Shak.
2. Willing or ready to yield to the influence of others; not invincibly rigid or obstinate; tractable; manageable; ductile; easy and compliant; wavering.
"Phocion was a man of great severity, and no ways flexible to the will of the people." Bacon.
"Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible." Shak.
3. Capable or being adapted or molded; plastic,; as a flexible language.
"This was a principle more flexible to their purpose." Rogers.
Syn. — Pliant; pliable; supple; tractable; manageable; ductile; obsequious; inconstant; wavering. — Flex´i•ble•ness, n. — Flex´i•bly, adv.

Flexicostate
Flex•i•cos´tate, a. [L. flexus bent + E. costate.] (Anat.) Having bent or curved ribs.

Flexile
Flex´ile, a. [L. flexilis.] Flexible; pliant; pliable; easily bent; plastic; tractable. Wordsworth.

Flexion
Flex´ion, n. [L. flexio: cf. F. flexion.]
1. The act of flexing or bending; a turning.
2. A bending; a part bent; a fold. Bacon.
3. (Gram.) Syntactical change of form of words, as by declension or conjugation; inflection.
"Express the syntactical relations by flexion." Sir W. Hamilton.
4. (Physiol.) The bending of a limb or joint; that motion of a joint which gives the distal member a continually decreasing angle with the axis of the proximal part; — distinguished from extension.

Flexor
Flex´or, n. [NL.] (Anat.) A muscle which bends or flexes any part; as the flexors of the arm or the hand; — opposed to extensor.

Flexuose
Flex´u•ose ( 135), a. Flexuous.

Flexuous
Flex´u•ous, a. [L. flexuosus, fr. flexus a bending, turning.]
1. Having turns, windings, or flexures.
2. (Bot.) Having alternate curvatures in opposite directions; bent in a zigzag manner.
3. Wavering; not steady; flickering. Bacon.

Flexural
Flex´u•ral, a. [From Flexure.] Of, pertaining to, or resulting from, flexure; of the nature of, or characterized by, flexure; as flexural elasticity.

Flibbergib
Flib´ber•gib, n. A sycophant. [Obs. & Humorous.] "Flatterers and flibbergibs." Latimer.

Flibbertigibbet
Flib´ber•ti•gib•bet, n. An imp. Shak.

Flibustier
Fli•bus•tier´, n. [F.] A buccaneer; an American pirate. See Filibuster. [Obs.]

Flickeringly
Flick´ering•ly, adv. In a flickering manner.

Flickermouse
Flick´er•mouse, n. (Zoöl.) See Flittermouse.

Flier
Fli´er (fli"er), n. [Form Fly, v. ; cf. Flyer]
1. One who flies or flees; a runaway; a fugitive. Shak.
2. (Mach.) A fly. See Fly, n. , 9, and 13 (b).
3. (Spinning) See Flyer, n. , 5.
4. (Arch.) See Flyer, n. , 4.

Flier
Fli´er, n. An aëroplane or flying machine.

Flight (flit), n. [AS. fliht, flyht, a flying, fr. fleógan to fly; cf. flyht a fleeing, fr. fleón to flee, G. flucht a fleeing, Sw. flykt, G. flug a flying, Sw. flygt, D. vlugt a fleeing or flying, Dan. flugt. rad.84. See Flee, Fly.]
1. The act of flying; a passing through the air by the help of wings; volitation; mode or style of flying.
"Like the night owl’s lazy flight." Shak.
2. The act of fleeing; the act of running away, to escape danger or expected evil; hasty departure.
"Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter." Matt. xxiv. 20.
"Fain by flight to save themselves." Shak.
3. Lofty elevation and excursion; a mounting; a soaring; as a flight of imagination, ambition, folly.
"Could he have kept his spirit to that flight, He had been happy." Byron.
"His highest flights were indeed far below those of Taylor." Macaulay.
4. A number of beings or things passing through the air together; especially, a flock of birds flying in company; the birds that fly or migrate together; the birds produced in one season; as a flight of arrows. Swift.
"Swift flights of angels ministrant." Milton.
"Like a flight of fowl Scattered winds and tempestuous gusts." Shak.
5. A series of steps or stairs from one landing to another. Parker.
6. A kind of arrow for the longbow; also the sport of shooting with it. See Shaft. [Obs.]
"Challenged Cupid at the flight." Shak.
"Not a flight drawn home E’er made that haste that they have." Beau. & Fl.
7. The husk or glume of oats. [Prov. Eng.] Wright. Flight feathers (Zoöl.), the wing feathers of a bird, including the quills, coverts, and bastard wing. See Bird. — To put to flight, To turn to flight, to compel to run away; to force to flee; to rout.
Syn. — Pair; set. See Pair.

Flighter
Flight´er, n. (Brewing) A horizontal vane revolving over the surface of wort in a cooler, to produce a circular current in the liquor. Knight.

Flightily
Flight´i•ly, adv. In a flighty manner.

Flightiness
Flight´i•ness, n. The state or quality of being flighty.
"The flightness of her temper." Hawthorne.
Syn. — Levity; giddiness; volatility; lightness; wildness; eccentricity. See Levity.

Flighty
Flight´y, a.
1. Fleeting; swift; transient.
"The flighty purpose never is o’ertook, Unless the deed go with it." Shak.
2. Indulging in flights, or wild and unrestrained sallies, of imagination, humor, caprice, etc.; given to disordered fancies and extravagant conduct; volatile; giddy; eccentric; slighty delirious.
"Proofs of my flighty and paradoxical turn of mind." Coleridge.
"A harsh disciplinarian and a flighty enthusiast." J. S. Harford.

Flimflam
Flim´flam, n. [Cf. Flam.] A freak; a trick; a lie. Beau. & Fl.

Flimsiness
Flim´si•ness, n. The state or quality of being flimsy.

Flimsy
Flim´sy, a. [ Compar. Flimsier superl. Flimsiest.] [Cf. W. llymsi naked, bare, empty, sluggish, spiritless. Cf. Limsy.] Weak; feeble; limp; slight; vain; without strength or solidity; of loose and unsubstantial structure; without reason or plausibility; as a flimsy argument, excuse, objection.
"Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines." Pope.
"All the flimsy furniture of a country miss’s brain." Sheridan.
Syn. — Weak; feeble; superficial; shallow; vain.

Flimsy
Flim´sy, n.
1. Thin or transfer paper.
2. A bank note. [Slang, Eng.]

Flinch, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flinched p. pr. & vb. n. Flinching.] [Prob. fr. OE. flecchen to waver, give way, F. flechir, fr. L. flectere to bend; but prob. influenced by E. blench. Cf. Flex.]
1. To withdraw from any suffering or undertaking, from pain or danger; to fail in doing or perserving; to show signs of yielding or of suffering; to shrink; to wince; as one of the parties flinched from the combat.
"A child, by a constant course of kindness, may be accustomed to bear very rough usage without flinching or complaining." Locke.
2. (Croquet) To let the foot slip from a ball, when attempting to give a tight croquet.

Flinch, n. The act of flinching.

Flincher
Flinch´er, n. One who flinches or fails.

Flinchingly
Flinch´ing•ly, adv. In a flinching manner.

Flindermouse
Flin´der•mouse, n. [OE. vlindre moth (cf. D. vlinder butterfly) + E. mouse. Cf. Flittermouse, Flinders.] (Zoöl.) A bat; a flittermouse.

Fling (fling), v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flung (flung); p. pr. & vb. n. Flinging.] [OE. flingen, flengen, to rush, hurl; cf. Icel. flengia to whip, ride furiously, OSw. flenga to strike, Sw. flänga to romp, Dan. flenge to slash.]
1. To cast, send, to throw from the hand; to hurl; to dart; to emit with violence as if thrown from the hand; as to fing a stone into the pond.
"’T is Fate that flings the dice: and, as she flings, Of kings makes peasants, and of peasants kings." Dryden.
"He … like Jove, his lighting flung." Dryden.
"I know thy generous temper well. Fling but the appearance of dishonor on it, It straight takes fire." Addison.
2. To shed forth; to emit; to scatter.
"The sun begins to fling His flaring beams." Milton.
"Every beam new transient colors flings." Pope.
3. To throw; to hurl; to throw off or down; to prostrate; hence, to baffle; to defeat; as to fling a party in litigation.
"His horse started, flung him, and fell upon him." Walpole. To fling about, to throw on all sides; to scatter. — To fling away, to reject; to discard.
"Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition." Shak. —To fling down. (a) To throw to the ground; esp., to throw in defiance, as formerly knights cast a glove into the arena as a challenge.
"This question so flung down before the guests, … Was handed over by consent of all To me who had not spoken." Tennyson. (b) To overturn; to demolish; to ruin. — To fling in, to throw in; not to charge in an account; as in settling accounts, one party flings in a small sum, or a few days’ work. — To fling off, to baffle in the chase; to defeat of prey; also to get rid of. Addison. — To fling open, to throw open; to open suddenly or with violence; as to fling open a door. — To fling out, to utter; to speak in an abrupt or harsh manner; as to fling out hard words against another. — To fling up, to relinquish; to abandon; as to fling up a design.

Fling, v. i.
1. To throw; to wince; to flounce; as the horse began to kick and fling.
2. To cast in the teeth; to utter abusive language; to sneer; as the scold began to flout and fling.
3. To throw one’s self in a violent or hasty manner; to rush or spring with violence or haste.
"And crop-full, out of doors he flings." Milton.
"I flung closer to his breast, As sword that, after battle, flings to sheath." Mrs. Browning.To fling out, to become ugly and intractable; to utter sneers and insinuations.

Fling, n.
1. A cast from the hand; a throw; also a flounce; a kick; as the fling of a horse.
2. A severe or contemptuous remark; an expression of sarcastic scorn; a gibe; a sarcasm.
"I, who love to have a fling, Both at senate house and king." Swift.
3. A kind of dance; as the Highland fling.
4. A trifing matter; an object of contempt. [Obs.]
"England were but a fling Save for the crooked stick and the gray goose wing." Old Proverb. To have one’s fling, to enjoy one’s self to the full; to have a season of dissipation. J. H. Newman. "When I was as young as you, I had my fling. I led a life of pleasure." D. Jerrold.

Flingdust
Fling´dust, n. One who kicks up the dust; a streetwalker; a low manner. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

Flinger
Fling´er, n. One who flings; one who jeers.

Flint, n. [AS. flint, akin to Sw. flinta, Dan. flint; cf. OHG. flins flint, G. flinte gun (cf. E. flintlock), perh. akin to Gr. brick. Cf. Plinth.]
1. (Min.) A massive, somewhat impure variety of quartz, in color usually of a gray to brown or nearly black, breaking with a conchoidal fracture and sharp edge. It is very hard, and strikes fire with steel.
2. A piece of flint for striking fire; — formerly much used, esp. in the hammers of gun locks.
3. Anything extremely hard, unimpressible, and unyielding, like flint. "A heart of flint." Spenser. Flint age. (Geol.) Same as Stone age, under Stone. — Flint brick, a fire made principially of powdered silex. — Flint glass. See in the Vocabulary. — Flint implements (Archaeol.), tools, etc., employed by men before the use of metals, such as axes, arrows, spears, knives, wedges, etc., which were commonly made of flint, but also of granite, jade, jasper, and other hard stones. — Flint mill. (a) (Pottery) A mill in which flints are ground. (b) (Mining) An obsolete appliance for lighting the miner at his work, in which flints on a revolving wheel were made to produce a shower of sparks, which gave light, but did not inflame the fire damp. Knight. — Flint stone, a hard, siliceous stone; a flint. — Flint wall, a kind of wall, common in England, on the face of which are exposed the black surfaces of broken flints set in the mortar, with quions of masonry. — Liquor of flints, a solution of silica, or flints, in potash. — To skin a flint, to be capable of, or guilty of, any expedient or any meanness for making money. [Colloq.]

Flintiness
Flint´i•ness, n. The state or quality of being flinty; hardness; cruelty. Beau. & Fl.

Flintlock
Flint´lock, n.
1. A lock for a gun or pistol, having a flint fixed in the hammer, which on striking the steel ignites the priming.
2. A hand firearm fitted with a flintlock; esp., the old-fashioned musket of European and other armies.

Flintware
Flint´ware, n. A superior kind of earthenware into whose composition flint enters largely. Knight.

Flintwood
Flint´wood, n. (Bot.) An Australian name for the very hard wood of the Eucalyptus piluralis.

Flinty
Flint´y, a. [ Compar. Flintier superl. Flintiest.] Consisting of, composed of, abounding in, or resembling, flint; as a flinty rock; flinty ground; a flinty heart. Flinty rock, or Flinty state, a siliceous slate; — basanite is here included. See Basanite.

Flip-flap
Flip´-flap, n. [See Flip, and Flap.] The repeated stroke of something long and loose. Johnson.

Flip-flap
Flip´-flap, adv. With repeated strokes and noise, as of something long and loose. Ash.

Flippancy
Flip´pan•cy, n. [See Flippant.] The state or quality of being flippant.
"This flippancy of language." Bp. Hurd.

Flippantly
Flip´pant•ly, adv. In a flippant manner.

Flippantness
Flip´pant•ness, n. State or quality of being flippant.

Flipper
Flip´per, n. [Cf. Flip, Flippant.]
1. (Zoöl.) A broad flat limb used for swimming, as those of seals, sea turtles, whales, etc.
2. (Naut.) The hand. [Slang]

Flirtation
Flir•ta´tion, n.
1. Playing at courtship; coquetry.
"The flirtations and jealousies of our ball rooms." Macaulay.

Flirt-gill
Flirt´-gill, n. A woman of light behavior; a gill-flirt. [Obs.] Shak.
"You heard him take me up like a flirt- gill." Beau. & Fl.

Flirtigig
Flirt´i•gig, n. A wanton, pert girl. [Obs.]

Flirtingly
Flirt´ing•ly, adv. In a flirting manner.

Flisk, v. i. To frisk; to skip; to caper. [Obs. Scot.] "The flisking flies." Gosson.

Flisk, n. A caper; a spring; a whim. [Scot.]

Flit, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flitted p. pr. & vb. n. Flitting ] [OE. flitten, flutten, to carry away; cf. Icel. flytja, Sw. flytta, Dan. flytte. rad.84. Cf. Fleet, v. i.]
1. To move with celerity through the air; to fly away with a rapid motion; to dart along; to fleet; as a bird flits away; a cloud flits along.
"A shadow flits before me." Tennyson.
2. To flutter; to rove on the wing. Dryden.
3. To pass rapidly, as a light substance, from one place to another; to remove; to migrate.
"It became a received opinion, that the souls of men, departing this life, did flit out of one body into some other." Hooker.
4. To remove from one place or habitation to another. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.] Wright. Jamieson.
5. To be unstable; to be easily or often moved.
"And the free soul to flitting air resigned." Dryden.

Flit, a. Nimble; quick; swift. [Obs.] See Fleet.

Flitter
Flit´ter, v. i. To flutter. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Flitter
Flit´ter, v. t. To flutter; to move quickly; as to flitter the cards. [R.] Lowell.

Flitter
Flit´ter, n. [Cf. G. flitter spangle, tinsel, flittern to make a tremulous motion, to glitter. Cf. Flitter, v. i.] A rag; a tatter; a small piece or fragment.

Flittiness
Flit´ti•ness, n. [From Flitty.] Unsteadiness; levity; lightness. [Obs.] Bp. Hopkins.

Flittingly
Flit´ting•ly, adv. In a flitting manner.

Flitty
Flit´ty, a. [From Flit.] Unstable; fluttering. [Obs.] Dr. H. More.

Flo (flo), n. ; pl. Flon (flon). [AS. fla, flan.] An arrow. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Float (flot), n. [OE. flote ship, boat, fleet, AS. flota ship, fr. fleótan to float; akin to D. vloot fleet, G. floss raft, Icel. floti float, raft, fleet, Sw. flotta. rad. 84. See Fleet, v. i., and cf. Flotilla, Flotsam, Plover.]
1. Anything which floats or rests on the surface of a fluid, as to sustain weight, or to indicate the height of the surface, or mark the place of, something. Specifically: (a) A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft. (b) The hollow, metallic ball of a self-acting faucet, which floats upon the water in a cistern or boiler. (c) The cork or quill used in angling, to support the bait line, and indicate the bite of a fish. (d) Anything used to buoy up whatever is liable to sink; an inflated bag or pillow used by persons learning to swim; a life preserver.
"This reform bill … had been used as a float by the conservative ministry." J. P. Peters.
2. A float board. See Float board (below).
3. (Tempering) A contrivance for affording a copious stream of water to the heated surface of an object of large bulk, as an anvil or die. Knight.
4. The act of flowing; flux; flow. [Obs.] Bacon.
5. A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot deep. [Obs.] Mortimer.
6. (Plastering) The trowel or tool with which the floated coat of plastering is leveled and smoothed.
7. A polishing block used in marble working; a runner. Knight.
8. A single-cut file for smoothing; a tool used by shoemakers for rasping off pegs inside a shoe.
9. A coal cart. [Eng.] Simmonds.
10. The sea; a wave. See Flote, n. Float board, one of the boards fixed radially to the rim of an undershot water wheel or of a steamer’s paddle wheel; — a vane. — Float case (Naut.), a caisson used for lifting a ship. — Floatcopper or gold (Mining), fine particles of metallic copper or of gold suspended in water, and thus liable to be lost. — Float ore, water-worn particles of ore; fragments of vein material found on the surface, away from the vein outcrop. Raymond. — Float stone (Arch.), a siliceous stone used to rub stonework or brickwork to a smooth surface. — Float valve, a valve or cock acted upon by a float. See Float, 1 (b).

Float, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Floated; p. pr. & vb. n. Floating.] [OE. flotien, flotten, AS. flotian to float, swim, fr. fleótan. See Float, n. ]
1. To rest on the surface of any fluid; to swim; to be buoyed up.
"The ark no more now floats, but seems on ground." Milton.
"Three blustering nights, borne by the southern blast, I floated." Dryden.
2. To move quietly or gently on the water, as a raft; to drift along; to move or glide without effort or impulse on the surface of a fluid, or through the air.
"They stretch their broad plumes and float upon the wind." Pope.
"There seems a floating whisper on the hills." Byron.

Float, v. t.
1. To cause to float; to cause to rest or move on the surface of a fluid; as the tide floated the ship into the harbor.
"Had floated that bell on the Inchcape rock." Southey.
2. To flood; to overflow; to cover with water.
"Proud Pactolus floats the fruitful lands." Dryden.
3. (Plastering) To pass over and level the surface of with a float while the plastering is kept wet.
4. To support and sustain the credit of, as a commercial scheme or a joint-stock company, so as to enable it to go into, or continue in, operation.

Floatable
Float´a•ble, a. That may be floated.

Floatage
Float´age ( 48), n. Same as Flotage.

Floating
Float´ing, a.
1. Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a wreck; floating motes in the air.
2. Free or lose from the usual attachment; as the floating ribs in man and some other animals.
3. Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as floating capital; a floating debt.
"Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island." Macaulay. Floating anchor (Naut.), a drag or sea anchor; drag sail. — Floating battery (Mil.), a battery erected on rafts or the hulls of ships, chiefly for the defense of a coast or the bombardment of a place. — Floating bridge. (a) A bridge consisting of rafts or timber, with a floor of plank, supported wholly by the water; a bateau bridge. See Bateau. (b) (Mil.) A kind of double bridge, the upper one projecting beyond the lower one, and capable of being moved forward by pulleys; — used for carrying troops over narrow moats in attacking the outworks of a fort. (c) A kind of ferryboat which is guided and impelled by means of chains which are anchored on each side of a stream, and pass over wheels on the vessel, the wheels being driven by stream power. (d) The landing platform of a ferry dock. — Floating cartilage (Med.), a cartilage which moves freely in the cavity of a joint, and often interferes with the functions of the latter. — Floating dam. (a) An anchored dam. (b) A caisson used as a gate for a dry dock. — Floating derrick, a derrick on a float for river and harbor use, in raising vessels, moving stone for harbor improvements, etc. — Floating dock. (Naut.) See under Dock. — Floating harbor, a breakwater of cages or booms, anchored and fastened together, and used as a protection to ships riding at anchor to leeward. Knight. — Floating heart (Bot.), a small aquatic plant ( Limnanthemum lacunosum) whose heart-shaped leaves float on the water of American ponds. — Floating island, a dish for dessert, consisting of custard with floating masses of whipped cream or white of eggs. — Floating kidney. (Med.) See Wandering kidney, under Wandering. — Floating light, a light shown at the masthead of a vessel moored over sunken rocks, shoals, etc., to warn mariners of danger; a light-ship; also a light erected on a buoy or floating stage. — Floating liver. (Med.) See Wandering liver, under Wandering. — Floating pier, a landing stage or pier which rises and falls with the tide. — Floating ribs (Anat.), the lower or posterior ribs which are not connected with the others in front; in man they are the last two pairs. — Floating screed (Plastering), a strip of plastering first laid on, to serve as a guide for the thickness of the coat. — Floating threads (Weaving), threads which span several other threads without being interwoven with them, in a woven fabric.

Floating
Float´ing, n.
1. (Weaving) Floating threads. See Floating threads, above.
2. The second coat of three-coat plastering. Knight.

Floating
Float´ing, n. The process of rendering oysters and scallops plump by placing them in fresh or brackish water; — called also fattening, plumping, and laying out. { Floating charge, lien, etc. } (Law) A charge, lien, etc., that successively attaches to such assets as a person may have from time to time, leaving him more or less free to dispose of or encumber them as if no such charge or lien existed.

Floatingly
Float´ing•ly, adv. In a floating manner.

Floaty
Float´y, a. Swimming on the surface; buoyant; light. Sir W. Raleigh.

Flobert
Flo´bert, n. (Gun.) A small cartridge designed for target shooting; — sometimes called ball cap. Flobert rifle, a rifle adapted to the use of floberts.

Floccillation
Floc•cil•la´tion, n. [L. floccus a flock of wool. Cf. Flock of wool.] (Med.) A delirious picking of bedclothes by a sick person, as if to pick off flocks of wool; carphology; — an alarming symptom in acute diseases. Dunglison.

Flocculate
Floc´cu•late, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flocculated; p. pr. & vb. n. Flocculating.] (Geol.) To aggregate into small lumps.

Flocculate
Floc´cu•late, a. (Zoöl.) Furnished with tufts of curly hairs, as some insects.

Flocculate
Floc´cu•late, v. t. To convert into floccules or flocculent aggregates; to make granular or crumbly; as the flocculating of a soil improves its mechanical condition.
"When applied to clay soils it [lime] binds the small particles together, or flocculates them." I. P. Roberts.

Flocculation
Floc•cu•la´tion, n. (Geol.) The process by which small particles of fine soils and sediments aggregate into larger lumps.

Floccule
Floc´cule, n. [See Flocculus.]
1. A detached mass of loosely fibrous structure like a shredded tuft of wool.
2. (Chem.) Specif.: A small particle of an insoluble substance formed in a liquid by the union of smaller particles.

Flocculent
Floc´cu•lent, a. [See Flock of wool.]
1. Clothed with small flocks or flakes; woolly. Gray.
2. (Zoöl.) Applied to the down of newly hatched or unfledged birds.

Flocculent
Floc´cu•lent, a. (Chem.) Having a structure like shredded wool, as some precipitates.

Flocculus
Floc´cu•lus, n. ; pl. Flocculi (#). [NL., dim. of L. floccus a lock or flock of wool.] (Anat.) A small lobe in the under surface of the cerebellum, near the middle peduncle; the subpeduncular lobe.

Floccus
Floc´cus, n. ; pl. Flocci (#). [L., a flock of wool.]
1. (Zoöl.) (a) The tuft of hair terminating the tail of mammals. (b) A tuft of feathers on the head of young birds.
2. (Bot.) A woolly filament sometimes occuring with the sporules of certain fungi.

Flock, n. [AS. flocc flock, company; akin to Icel. flokkr crowd, Sw. flock, Dan. flok; prob. orig. used of flows, and akin to E. fly. See Fly.]
1. A company or collection of living creatures; — especially applied to sheep and birds, rarely to persons or (except in the plural) to cattle and other large animals; as a flock of ravenous fowl. Milton.
"The heathen … came to Nicanor by flocks." 2 Macc. xiv. 14.
2. A Christian church or congregation; considered in their relation to the pastor, or minister in charge.
"As half amazed, half frighted all his flock." Tennyson.

Flock, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flocked p. pr. & vb. n. Flocking.] To gather in companies or crowds.
"Friends daily flock." Dryden. Flocking fowl (Zoöl.), the greater scaup duck.

Flock, v. t. To flock to; to crowd. [Obs.]
"Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so." Taylor (1609).

Flock, n. [OE. flokke; cf. D. vlok, G. flocke, OHG. floccho, Icel. floki, perh. akin to E. flicker, flacker, or cf. L. floccus, F. floc.]
1. A lock of wool or hair.
"I prythee, Tom, beat Cut’s saddle, put a few flocks in the point [pommel]." Shak.
2. Woolen or cotton refuse ( sing. or pl.), old rags, etc., reduced to a degree of fineness by machinery, and used for stuffing unpholstered furniture.
3. Very fine, sifted, woolen refuse, especially that from shearing the nap of cloths, used as a coating for wall paper to give it a velvety or clothlike appearance; also the dust of vegetable fiber used for a similar purpose. Flock bed, a bed filled with flocks or locks of coarse wool, or pieces of cloth cut up fine. "Once a flock bed, but repaired with straw." Pope. — Flock paper, paper coated with flock fixed with glue or size.

Flock, v. t. To coat with flock, as wall paper; to roughen the surface of (as glass) so as to give an appearance of being covered with fine flock.

Flockling
Flock´ling, n. A lamb. [Obs.] Brome (1659).

Flockly
Flock´ly, adv. In flocks; in crowds. [Obs.]

Flockmel
Flock´mel, adv. [AS. flocmlum. See Meal part.] In a flock; in a body. [Obs.]
"That flockmel on a day they to him went." Chaucer.

Floe (flo), n. [Cf. Dan. flag af iis, iis flage, Sw. flaga, flake, is flaga, is flake. See Flag a flat stone.] A low, flat mass of floating ice. Floe rat (Zoöl.), a seal ( Phoca fœtida).

Flogging
Flog´ging, a. & n. from Flog, v. t.Flogging chisel (Mach.), a large cold chisel, used in chipping castings. — Flogging hammer, a small sledge hammer used for striking a flogging chisel.

Flood, n. [OE. flod a flowing, stream, flood, AS. flod; akin to D. vloed, OS. flod, OHG. fluot, G. flut, Icel. floð, Sw. & Dan. flod, Goth. flodus; from the root of E. flow. rad.80. See Flow, v. i.]
1. A great flow of water; a body of moving water; the flowing stream, as of a river; especially, a body of water, rising, swelling, and overflowing land not usually thus covered; a deluge; a freshet; an inundation.
"A covenant never to destroy The earth again by flood." Milton.
2. The flowing in of the tide; the semidiurnal swell or rise of water in the ocean; — opposed to ebb; as young flood; high flood.
"There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." Shak.
3. A great flow or stream of any fluid substance; as a flood of light; a flood of lava; hence, a great quantity widely diffused; an overflowing; a superabundance; as a flood of bank notes; a flood of paper currency.
4. Menstrual disharge; menses. Harvey. Flood anchor (Naut.), the anchor by which a ship is held while the tide is rising. — Flood fence, a fence so secured that it will not be swept away by a flood. — Flood gate, a gate for shutting out, admitting, or releasing, a body of water; a tide gate. — Flood mark, the mark or line to which the tide, or a flood, rises; high-water mark. — Flood tide, the rising tide; — opposed to ebb tide. — The Flood, the deluge in the days of Noah.

Flood, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flooded; p. pr. & vb. n. Flooding.]
1. To overflow; to inundate; to deluge; as the swollen river flooded the valley.
2. To cause or permit to be inundated; to fill or cover with water or other fluid; as to flood arable land for irrigation; to fill to excess or to its full capacity; as to flood a country with a depreciated currency.

Flooder
Flood´er, n. One who floods anything.

Flooding
Flood´ing, n. The filling or covering with water or other fluid; overflow; inundation; the filling anything to excess.
2. (Med.) An abnormal or excessive discharge of blood from the uterus. Dunglison.

Flook, n. A fluke of an anchor. { Flook´an, Flu´kan }, n. (Mining) See Flucan.

Floor, n. [AS. flr; akin to D. vloer, G. flur field, floor, entrance hall, Icel. flr floor of a cow stall, cf. Ir. & Gael. lar floor, ground, earth, W. llawr, perh. akin to L. planus level. Cf. Plain smooth.]
1. The bottom or lower part of any room; the part upon which we stand and upon which the movables in the room are supported.
2. The structure formed of beams, girders, etc., with proper covering, which divides a building horizontally into stories. Floor in sense 1 is, then, the upper surface of floor in sense 2.
3. The surface, or the platform, of a structure on which we walk or travel; as the floor of a bridge.
4. A story of a building. See Story.
5. (Legislative Assemblies) (a) The part of the house assigned to the members. (b) The right to speak. [U.S.] Instead of he has the floor, the English say, he is in possession of the house.
6. (Naut.) That part of the bottom of a vessel on each side of the keelson which is most nearly horizontal.
7. (Mining) (a) The rock underlying a stratified or nearly horizontal deposit. (b) A horizontal, flat ore body. Raymond. Floor cloth, a heavy fabric, painted, varnished, or saturated, with waterproof material, for covering floors; oilcloth. — Floor cramp, an implement for tightening the seams of floor boards before nailing them in position. — Floor light, a frame with glass panes in a floor. — Floor plan. (a) (Shipbuilding) A longitudinal section, showing a ship as divided at the water line. (b) (Arch.) A horizontal section, showing the thickness of the walls and partitions, arrangement of passages, apartments, and openings at the level of any floor of a house.

Floor, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Floored p. pr. & vb. n. Flooring.]
1. To cover with a floor; to furnish with a floor; as to floor a house with pine boards.
2. To strike down or lay level with the floor; to knock down; hence, to silence by a conclusive answer or retort; as to floor an opponent.
"Floored or crushed by him." Coleridge.
3. To finish or make an end of; as to floor a college examination. [Colloq.]
"I’ve floored my little-go work." T. Hughes.

Floorer
Floor´er, n. Anything that floors or upsets a person, as a blow that knocks him down; a conclusive answer or retort; a task that exceeds one’s abilities. [Colloq.]

Floorheads
Floor´heads, n. pl. (Naut.) The upper extermities of the floor of a vessel.

Flooring
Floor´ing, n. A platform; the bottom of a room; a floor; pavement. See Floor, n. Addison.
2. Material for the construction of a floor or floors.

Floorwalker
Floor´walk•er, n. One who walks about in a large retail store as an overseer and director. [U.S.]

Flop, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flopped p. pr. & vb. n. Flopping.] [A variant of flap.]
1. To clap or strike, as a bird its wings, a fish its tail, etc.; to flap.
2. To turn suddenly, as something broad and flat. [Colloq.] Fielding.

Flop, v. i.
1. To strike about with something broad and flat, as a fish with its tail, or a bird with its wings; to rise and fall; as the brim of a hat flops.
2. To fall, sink, or throw one’s self, heavily, clumsily, and unexpectedly on the ground. [Colloq.] Dickens.

Flop, n. Act of flopping. [Colloq.] W. H. Russell.

Floppy
Flop´py, n. Having a tendency to flop or flap; as a floppy hat brim. G. Eliot.

Flopwing
Flop´wing, n. (Zoöl.) The lapwing.

Flora
Flo´ra, n. [L., the goddess of flowers, from flos, floris, flower. See Flower.]
1. (Rom. Myth.) The goddess of flowers and spring.
2. (Bot.) The complete system of vegetable species growing without cultivation in a given locality, region, or period; a list or description of, or treatise on, such plants.

Floramour
Flo´ra•mour, n. [L. flos, floris, flower + amorlove.] The plant love-lies- bleeding. [Obs.] Prior.

Floran
Flo´ran, n. (Mining) Tin ore scarcely perceptible in the stone; tin ore stamped very fine. Pryce.

Floreal
Flo•real´, n. [F. floreal, fr. L. flos, floris, flower.] The eight month of the French republican calendar. It began April 20, and ended May 19. See Vendemiare.

Florescence
Flo•res´cence, n. [See Florescent.] (Bot.) A bursting into flower; a blossoming. Martyn.

Floriated
Flo´ri•a•ted, a. (Arch.) Having floral ornaments; as floriated capitals of Gothic pillars.

Floriation
Flo•ri•a´tion, n.
1. Ornamentation by means of flower forms, whether closely imitated or conventionalized.
2. Any floral ornament or decoration. Rock.

Floricomous
Flo•ric´o•mous, a. [L. flos, floris, flower + coma hair.] Having the head adorned with flowers. [R.]

Floricultural
Flo•ri•cul´tur•al (? or 135), a. Pertaining to the cultivation of flowering plants.

Floriculture
Flo´ri•cul•ture (? or 135, 277), n. [L. flos, floris, flower + cultura culture.] The cultivation of flowering plants.

Floriculturist
Flo•ri•cul´tur•ist, n. One skilled in the cultivation of flowers; a florist.

Florid
Flor´id, a. [L. floridus, fr. flos, floris, flower. See Flower.]
1. Covered with flowers; abounding in flowers; flowery. [R.]
"Fruit from a pleasant and florid tree." Jer. Taylor.
2. Bright in color; flushed with red; of a lively reddish color; as a florid countenance.
3. Embellished with flowers of rhetoric; enriched to excess with figures; excessively ornate; as a florid style; florid eloquence.
4. (Mus.) Flowery; ornamental; running in rapid melodic figures, divisions, or passages, as in variations; full of fioriture or little ornamentations.

Floridity
Flo•rid´i•ty, n. The quality of being florid; floridness. Floyer.

Floridly
Flor´id•ly, adv. In a florid manner.

Floridness
Flor´id•ness, n. The quality of being florid. Boyle.

Floriferous
Flo•rif´er•ous, a. [L. florifer; flos, floris, flower + ferre to bear; cf. F. florifère.] Producing flowers. Blount.

Florification
Flo•ri•fi•ca´tion, n. [L. flos, floris, flower + facere to make.] The act, process, or time of flowering; florescence.

Floriform
Flo´ri•form, a. [L. flos, floris, flower + -form: cf. F. floriforme.] Having the form of a flower; flower- shaped.

Floriken
Flo´ri•ken, n. (Zoöl.) An Indian bustard ( Otis aurita). The Bengal floriken is Sypheotides Bengalensis. [Written also florikan, florikin, florican.]

Florilege
Flo´ri•lege, n. [L. florilegus flower-culling; flos, floris, flower + legere to gather: cf. F. florilège.] The act of gathering flowers.

Florimer
Flo´ri•mer, n. (Bot.) See Floramour. [Obs.]

Floscular
Flos´cu•lar, a. (Bot.) Flosculous.

Floscularian
Flos•cu•la´ri•an, n. [From L. flosculus a floweret.] (Zoöl.) One of a group of stalked rotifers, having ciliated tentacles around the lobed disk.

Floscule
Flos•cule, n. [L. flosculus, dim. of flos flower: cf. F. floscule.] (Bot.) A floret.

Flosculous
Flos´cu•lous, a. (Bot.) Consisting of many gamopetalous florets.

Flos-ferri
Flos•-fer´ri, n. [L., flower of iron.] (Min.) A variety of aragonite, occuring in delicate white coralloidal forms; — common in beds of iron ore.

Flosh, n. [Cf. G. flösse a trough in which tin ore is washed.] (Metallurgy) A hopper-shaped box or nortar in which ore is placed for the action of the stamps. Knight.

Floss ( 195), n. [It. floscio flabby, soft, fr. L. fluxus flowing, loose, slack. See Flux, n. ]
1. (Bot.) The slender styles of the pistillate flowers of maize; also called silk.
2. Untwisted filaments of silk, used in embroidering. Floss silk, silk that has been twisted, and which retains its loose and downy character. It is much used in embroidery. Called also floxed silk. — Floss thread, a kind of soft flaxen yarn or thread, used for embroidery; — called also linen floss, and floss yarn. McElrath.

Floss, n. [Cf. G. floss a float.]
1. A small stream of water. [Eng.]
2. Fluid glass floating on iron in the puddling furnace, produced by the vitrification of oxides and earths which are present. Floss hole. (a) A hole at the back of a puddling furnace, at which the slags pass out. (b) The tap hole of a melting furnace. Knight.

Floss, n. A body feather of an ostrich. Flosses are soft, and gray from the female and black from the male.

Flossification
Flos•si•fi•ca´tion, n. [Cf. Florification.] A flowering; florification. [R.] Craig.

Flota
Flo´ta, n. [Sp. See Flotilla.] A fleet; especially, a eet of Spanish ships which formerly sailed every year from Cadiz to Vera Cruz, in Mexico, to transport to Spain the production of Spanish America.

Flotant
Flo´tant, a. [OF. flotant, F. flottant, p. pr. of flotter to float.] (Her.) Represented as flying or streaming in the air; as a banner flotant.

Flotation
Flo•ta´tion, n. [Cf. F. flottation a floating, flottaison water line, fr. flotter to float. See Flotilla.]
1. The act, process, or state of floating.
2. The science of floating bodies. Center of flotation. (Shipbuilding) (a) The center of any given plane of flotation. (b) More commonly, the middle of the length of the load water line. Rankine. — Plane, or Line, of flotation, the plane or line in which the horizontal surface of a fluid cuts a body floating in it. See Bearing, n. , 9 (c). — Surface of flotation (Shipbuilding), the imaginary surface which all the planes of flotation touch when a vessel rolls or pitches; the envelope of all such planes.

Flotation
Flo•ta´tion, n. (Com. & Finance) Act of financing, or floating, a commercial venture or an issue of bonds, stock, or the like.

Flotation process. A process of separating the substances contained in pulverized ore or the like by depositing the mixture on the surface of a flowing liquid, the substances that are quickly wet readily overcoming the surface tension of the liquid and sinking, the others flowing off in a film or slime on the surface, though, perhaps, having a greater specific gravity than those that sink.

Flote, v. t. To fleet; to skim. [Obs.] Tusser.

Flote, n. [Cf. F. flot, L. fluctus; also cf. Float, n. ] A wave. [Obs.] "The Mediterranean flote." Shak.

Flotilla
Flo•til´la, n. [Sp. flotilla, dim. of flota fleet; akin to F. flotte, It. flotta, and F. flot wave, fr. L. fluctus, but prob. influenced by words akin to E. float. See Fluctuate, and cf. Float, n. ] A little fleet, or a fleet of small vessels. { Flot´sam, Flot´son }, n. [F. flotter to float. See FFlotilla, and cf. Jetsam.] (Law) Goods lost by shipwreck, and floating on the sea; — in distinction from jetsam or jetson. Blackstone.

Flounder
Floun´der, n. [Cf. Sw. flundra; akin to Dan. flynder, Icel. flyra, G. flunder, and perh. to E. flounder, v.i.]
1. (Zoöl.) A flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae, of many species. The common English flounder is Pleuronectes flesus. There are several common American species used as food; as the smooth flounder ( P. glabra); the rough or winter flounder ( P. Americanus); the summer flounder, or plaice ( Paralichthys dentatus), Atlantic coast; and the starry flounder ( Pleuronectes stellatus).
2. (Bootmaking) A tool used in crimping boot fronts.

Flounder
Floun´der, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Floundered p. pr. & vb. n. Floundering.] [Cf. D. flodderen to flap, splash through mire, E. flounce, v.i., and flounder the fish.] To fling the limbs and body, as in making efforts to move; to struggle, as a horse in the mire, or as a fish on land; to roll, toss, and tumble; to flounce.
"They have floundered on from blunder to blunder." Sir W. Hamilton.

Flounder
Floun´der, n. The act of floundering.

Flour, n. [F. fleur de farine the flower ( i.e., the best) of meal, cf. Sp. flor de la harina superfine flour, Icel. flür flower, flour. See Flower.] The finely ground meal of wheat, or of any other grain; especially, the finer part of meal separated by bolting; hence, the fine and soft powder of any substance; as flour of emery; flour of mustard. Flour bolt, in milling, a gauze-covered, revolving, cylindrical frame or reel, for sifting the flour from the refuse contained in the meal yielded by the stones. — Flour box a tin box for scattering flour; a dredging box. — Flourdredge or dredger, a flour box. — Flour dresser, a mashine for sorting and distributing flour according to grades of fineness. — Flour mill, a mill for grinding and sifting flour.

Flour, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Floured p. pr. & vb. n. Flouring.]
1. To grind and bolt; to convert into flour; as to flour wheat.
2. To sprinkle with flour.

Flourish
Flour´ish, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flourished p. pr. & vb. n. Flourishing.] [OE. florisshen, flurisshen, OF. flurir, F. fleurir, fr. L. florere to bloom, fr. flos, floris, flower. See Flower, and - ish.]
1. To grow luxuriantly; to increase and enlarge, as a healthy growing plant; a thrive.
"A tree thrives and flourishes in a kindly … soil." Bp. Horne.
2. To be prosperous; to increase in wealth, honor, comfort, happiness, or whatever is desirable; to thrive; to be prominent and influental; specifically, of authors, painters, etc., to be in a state of activity or production.
"When all the workers of iniquity do flourish." Ps. xcii 7
"Bad men as frequently prosper and flourish, and that by the means of their wickedness." Nelson.
"We say Of those that held their heads above the crowd, They flourished then or then." Tennyson.
3. To use florid language; to indulge in rhetorical figures and lofty expressions; to be flowery.
"They dilate … and flourish long on little incidents." J. Watts.
4. To make bold and sweeping, fanciful, or wanton movements, by way of ornament, parade, bravado, etc.; to play with fantastic and irregular motion.
"Impetuous spread The stream, and smoking flourished o’er his head." Pope.
5. To make ornamental strokes with the pen; to write graceful, decorative figures.
6. To execute an irregular or fanciful strain of music, by way of ornament or prelude.
"Why do the emperor’s trumpets flourish thus?" Shak.
7. To boast; to vaunt; to brag. Pope.

Flourish
Flour´ish, v. t.
1. To adorn with flowers orbeautiful figures, either natural or artificial; to ornament with anything showy; to embellish. [Obs.] Fenton.
2. To embellish with the flowers of diction; to adorn with rhetorical figures; to grace with ostentatious eloquence; to set off with a parade of words. [Obs.]
"Sith that the justice of your title to him Doth flourish the deceit." Shak.
3. To move in bold or irregular figures; to swing about in circles or vibrations by way of show or triumph; to brandish.
"And flourishes his blade in spite of me." Shak.
4. To develop; to make thrive; to expand. [Obs.]
"Bottoms of thread … which with a good needle, perhaps may be flourished into large works." Bacon.

Flourish
Flour´ish, n. ; pl. Flourishes .
1. A flourishing condition; prosperity; vigor. [Archaic]
"The Roman monarchy, in her highest flourish, never had the like." Howell.
2. Decoration; ornament; beauty.
"The flourish of his sober youth Was the pride of naked truth." Crashaw.
3. Something made or performed in a fanciful, wanton, or vaunting manner, by way of ostentation, to excite admiration, etc.; ostentatious embellishment; ambitious copiousness or amplification; parade of words and figures; show; as a flourish of rhetoric or of wit.
"He lards with flourishes his long harangue." Dryden.
4. A fanciful stroke of the pen or graver; a merely decorative figure.
"The neat characters and flourishes of a Bible curiously printed." Boyle.
5. A fantastic or decorative musical passage; a strain of triumph or bravado, not forming part of a regular musical composition; a cal; a fanfare.
"A flourish, trumpets! strike alarum, drums!" Shak.
6. The waving of a weapon or other thing; a brandishing; as the flourish of a sword.

Flourisher
Flour´ish•er, n. One who flourishes.

Flourishingly
Flour´ish•ing•ly, adv. In a flourishing manner; ostentatiously.

Floury
Flour´y, a. Of or resembling flour; mealy; covered with flour. Dickens.

Flout, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flouted; p. pr. & vb. n. Flouting.] [OD. fluyten to play the flute, to jeer, D. fluiten, fr. fluit, fr. French. See Flute.] To mock or insult; to treat with contempt.
"Phillida flouts me." Walton.
"Three gaudy standards flout the pale blue sky." Byron.

Flout, v. i. To practice mocking; to behave with contempt; to sneer; to fleer; — often with a. .
"Fleer and gibe, and laugh and flout." Swift.

Flout, n. A mock; an insult.
"Who put your beauty to this flout and scorn." Tennyson.

Flouter
Flout´er, n. One who flouts; a mocker.

Floutingly
Flout´ing•ly, adv. With flouting; insultingly; as to treat a lover floutingly.

Flow (flo), obs. imp. sing. of Fly, v. i. Chaucer.

Flow (flo), v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flowed (flod); p. pr. & vb. n. Flowing.] [AS. flowan; akin to D. vloeijen, OHG. flawen to wash, Icel. floa to deluge, Gr. plw•ein to float, sail, and prob. ultimately to E. float, fleet. rad.80. Cf. Flood.]
1. To move with a continual change of place among the particles or parts, as a fluid; to change place or circulate, as a liquid; as rivers flow from springs and lakes; tears flow from the eyes.
2. To become liquid; to melt.
"The mountains flowed down at thy presence." Is. lxiv. 3.
3. To proceed; to issue forth; as wealth flows from industry and economy.
"Those thousand decencies that daily flow From all her words and actions." Milton.
4. To glide along smoothly, without harshness or asperties; as a flowing period; flowing numbers; to sound smoothly to the ear; to be uttered easily.
"Virgil is sweet and flowingin his hexameters." Dryden.
5. To have or be in abundance; to abound; to full, so as to run or flow over; to be copious.
"In that day … the hills shall flow with milk." Joel iii. 18.
"The exhilaration of a night that needed not the influence of the flowing bowl." Prof. Wilson.
6. To hang loose and waving; as a flowing mantle; flowing locks.
"The imperial purple flowing in his train." A. Hamilton.
7. To rise, as the tide; — opposed to ebb; as the tide flows twice in twenty-four hours.
"The river hath thrice flowed, no ebb between." Shak.
8. To discharge blood in excess from the uterus.