Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FLARE, v.i. [If this word is not contracted, it may be allied to clear, glare, glory, L. floreo, Eng. floor, the primary sense of which is to open, to spread, from parting, departing, or driving apart. But in Norm. flair is to blow, and possibly it may be from L. flo, or it may be contracted from G. flackern.]

1. To waver; to flutter; to burn with an unsteady light; as, the candle flares, that is, the light wanders from its natural course.
2. To flutter with splendid show; to be loose and waving as a showy thing. With ribbons pendant flaring 'bout her head. Shak.
3. To glitter with transient luster. But speech alone / Doth vanish like a flaring thing. Herbert.
4. To glitter with painful splendor. When the sun begins to fling / His flaring beams. Milton
5. To be exposed to too much light. I can not stay / Flaring in sunshine all the day. [Qu.] Prior.
6. To open or spread outward.