Emily Dickinson Lexicon

floor (-s), n. [OE flor. NW says Welsh llawr, earth or ground and Ger. flur, field; NW also notes that ancient inhabitants of Europe had no floor in their huts but the ground.] (webplay: business, dust, early, ground, house, lower, room, sand, walk).

1. Flat wooden surface; bottom level in a room; smooth plane of boards covering the base of the interior of a building.
2. Ground; soil; earth; land; field [word play on flur in etymology.]
3. Base; [metonymy] bottom of an archive, repository, or storehouse; [fig.] mental and emotional depths.
4. [Fig.] bottom of a casket; burial place in the ground; earth surrounding a grave.
5. Bottom of a ship; bottom of a chest.
6. Platform in a theater; stage for performance.
7. Tier; level; story; [fig.] surface of the ocean; waves.
8. Foundation; groundwork in a court; [fig.] paved golden street of the kingdom of heaven.
9. Phrase. “Ground floor”: downward limit; lowest part; first story; substratum on which other parts are overlaid.

floorless, adj. [see floor, n.] (webplay: house).

Bottomless; without foundation; endless; limitless; infinite; eternal.

flora, n. [L. Flora, goddess of flowers, from flos, floris, flower.] (webplay: flower, plant).

Flower; of or pertaining to flowers and plants; [fig.] sunset; purplish tint of the horizon at sundown.

Florentine, proper n. [see Anglo-Florentine.]

florid, adj. [L. 'to bloom'.]

Blooming with activity; spotted; speckled; [fig.] busy; occupied; enriched with details.

floss, n. [Poss. from OFr flosche, down, pile of velvet; cf. L. flos, flower.]

1. Woven filaments; soft strands of a spider web; downy or silky substance in the husks of certain plants; word play on “Flower” and “Floss.”
2. Rough silk which envelops the cocoon of the silk worm.
3. Silk in fine filaments.

flourish (-ing), v. [OFr floriss < L. flos, flower.] (webplay: figure).

Thriving; prosperous; increasing; making a show.

flow (-ed, -ing, -s), v. [L. fluo, to blow or fly.]

1. Move in a uniform, fluid manner and direction; spread; move as in a stream.
2. Be full, abundant, copious; issue out from in a fluid manner.

flower, n. [ME < L. flōs, bloom; see bloom, n., blossom, n., blow, v².]

1. Spring; season of growth; time of renewal; [fig.] resurrection; restoration; hope of eternal life.
2. Passing thing; transient entity; short-lived object; ephemeral creature; [fig.] poem; lyric; sentimental verse.
3. Pastoral beauty; natural splendor; [fig.] April; springtime.
4. Blossom; expanded flower; colored portion of a plant consisting of stamens, pistils, corolla, and calyx; culminating beauty of a plant before going to fruit.
5. Blossoming; state of growth; development of a plant; [fig.] life; vitality; vigor; strength.
6. Bloom; floret that becomes fruit on a plant; [fig.] product; harvest; yield.
7. Corpse; deceased person; dead body.
8. Thought; meditation; reflection; [fig.] poem; verse; lyric.
9. Aurora; sunrise; refulgence; glory; emerging light.

flower, v.