Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FLAP'DRAG-ON, n.

1. A play in which they catch raisins out of burning brandy, and, extinguishing them by closing the mouth, eat them.
2. The thing eaten. Johnson.

FLAP'DRAG-ON, v.t.

To swallow or devour. Shak.

FLAP'EAR-ED, a.

Having broad loose ears. Shak.

FLAP'JACK, n.

An apple-puff. Shak.

FLAP'MOUTH-ED, a.

Having loose hanging lips. Shak.

FLAP'PED, pp.

Struck with something broad; let down; having the brim fallen, as a flapped hat.

FLAP'PER, n.

One who flaps another. Chesterfield.

FLAP'PING, ppr.

Striking; beating; moving something broad; as, flapping wings. The ducks run flapping and fluttering. L'Estrange.

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.

FLAR-ING, ppr. [or adj.]

1. Burning with a wavering light; fluttering; glittering; showy.
2. Opening; widening outward; as, a flaring fireplace.

FLAR'ING-LY, adv.

Flutteringly; showily.

FLASH, n. [Ir. lasair, lasrach, a flame, a flash; lasadh, lasaim, to burn, to kindle; leos, light; leosam, to give light; also, loisgim, losgadh, to burn; loisi, flame; Dan. lys, light; lyser, to shine, to glisten or glister; Sw. lius, lysa, id. Qu. G. blitz, a glance; blitzen, to lighten, to flash; Russ. blesk, bleschu, id. There is a numerous class of words in Ls, with different prefixes, that denote to shine, to throw light, as gloss, glass, glisten, blush, flush, flash, luster, &c.; but perhaps they are not all of one family. The Welsh has llathru, to make smooth and glossy, to polish, to glitter; llethrid, a gleam, a flash. See Class Ld, No. 5, and Ls, No. 25, and see Flush.]

1. A sudden burst of light; a flood of light instantaneously appearing and disappearing; as, a flash of lightning.
2. A sudden burst of flame and light; an instantaneous blaze; as, the flash of a gun.
3. A sudden burst, as of wit or merriment; as, a flash of wit; a flash of joy or mirth. His companions recollect no instance of premature wit, no striking sentiment, no flash of fancy. Wirt.
4. A short, transient state. The Persians and Macedonians had it for a flash. Bacon.
5. A body of water driven by violence. [Local.] Pegge.
6. A little pool. Qu. plash. [Local.]

FLASH, v.i.

1. To break forth, as a sudden flood of light; to burst or open instantly on the sight, as splendor. It differs from glitter, glisten and gleam, in 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. A diamond may glitter or glisten, but it does not flash. Flash differs from other words also in denoting suddenness of appearance and disappearance.
2. To burst or break forth with a flood of flame and light; as, the powder flashed in the pan. Flashing differs from exploding or disploding, in not being accompanied with a loud report.
3. To burst out into any kind of violence. Every hour He flashes into one gross crime or other. Shak.
4. To break out, as a sudden expression of wit, merriment, or bright thought. Felton.

FLASH, v.t.

1. To strike up a body of water from the surface. Carew. He rudely flashed the waves. Spenser. [In this sense I believe this word is not used in America.]
2. To strike or to throw like a burst of light; as, to flash conviction on the mind.

FLASH'ER, n.

1. A man of more appearance of wit than reality. Dict.
2. A rower. [Not in use.]

FLASH'I-LY, adv.

With empty show; with a sudden glare; without solidity of wit or thought.

FLASH'ING, ppr.

Bursting forth as a flood of light, or of flame and light, or as wit, mirth or joy.

FLASH'INGS, n. [Probably from Fr. plague or flague.]

In architecture, pieces of metal let into the joints of a wall so as to lap over the gutters and prevent the plashing of rain on the interior works.

FLASH'Y, a.

1. Showy, but empty; dazzling for a moment, but not solid; as, flashy wit.
2. Showy; gay; as, a flashy dress.
3. Insipid; vapid; without taste or spirit; as, food or drink.
4. Washy; plashy. [See Plash.]

FLASK, n. [G. flasche; Sw. flaska; Dan. flaske; D. fles, flesch; Sax. flaxa; Sp. and Port. frasco; It. flasco, or fiasco; W. flasg, a basket.]

1. A kind of bottle; as, a flask of wine or oil.
2. A vessel for powder.
3. A bed in a gun-carriage. Bailey.

FLASK'ET, n.

1. A vessel in which viands are served up. Pope. Ray.
2. A long shallow basket. Spenser.

FLAT, a. [D. plat; G. platt; Dan. flad; Sw. flat; Fr. plat; Arm. blad, or pladt; It. piatto; from extending or laying. Allied probably to W. llez, llêd, llyd; L. latus, broad; Gr. πλατυς; Eng. blade.]

1. Having an even surface, without risings or indentures, hills or valleys; as, flat land.
2. Horizontal; level without inclination; a flat roof; or with a moderate inclination or slope; for we often apply the word to the roof of a house that is not steep, though inclined.
3. Prostrate; lying the whole length on the ground. He fell or lay flat on the ground.
4. Not elevated or erect; fallen. Cease t' admire, and beauty's plumes / Fall flat. Milton.
5. Level with the ground; totally fallen. What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat. Milton.
6. In painting, wanting relief or prominence of the figures.
7. Tasteless; stale; vapid; insipid; dead; as, fruit flat to the taste. Philips.
8. Dull; unanimated; frigid; without point or spirit; applied to discourses and compositions. The sermon was very flat.
9. Depressed; spiritless; dejected. I feel – my hopes all flat. Milton.
10. Unpleasing; not affording gratification. How flat and insipid are all the pleasures of this life!
11. Peremptory; absolute; positive; downright. He gave the petitioner a flat denial. Thus repulsed, our final hope / Is flat despair. Milton.
12. Not sharp or shrill; not acute; as, a flat sound. Bacon.
13. Low, as the prices of goods; or dull, as sales.

FLAT, n.

1. A level or extended plain. In America, it is applied particularly to low ground or meadow that is level, but it denotes any land of even surface and of some extent.
2. A level ground lying at a small depth under the surface of water; a shoal; a shallow; a strand; a sand bank under water.
3. The broad side of a blade. Dryden.
4. Depression of thought or language. Dryden.
5. A surface without relief or prominences. Bentley.
6. In music, a mark of depression in sound. A flat denotes a fall or depression of half a tone.
7. A boat, broad and flat-bottomed. A flat-bottomed boat is constructed for conveying passengers or troops, horses, carriages and baggage.

FLAT, v.i.

1. To grow flat; to fall to an even surface. Temple.
2. To become insipid, or dull and unanimated. King Charles.

FLAT, v.t. [Fr. flatir, applatir.]

1. To level; to depress; to lay smooth or even; to make broad and smooth; to flatten. Bacon.
2. To make vapid or tasteless. Bacon.
3. To make dull or unanimated.