Flake (?), n. [Etym. uncertain; cf. 1st Fake.] A flat layer, or fake, of a coiled cable.
Flake after flake ran out of the tubs, until we were compelled to hand the end of our line to the second mate.
F. T. Bullen.
||Flam`bé" (?), a. [F., p.p. of flamber to singe, pass (a thing) through flame. Cf. Flambeau.] (Ceramics) Decorated by glaze splashed or irregularly spread upon the surface, or apparently applied at the top and allowed to run down the sides; -- said of pieces of Chinese porcelain.
||Flâ`ne*rie" (?), n. [F. flânerie. See Flaneur.] Lit., strolling; sauntering; hence, aimless; idleness; as, intellectual flânerie.
Flan"nel flow`er. (Bot.) (a) The common mullein. (b) A Brazilian apocynaceous vine (Macrosiphonia longiflora) having woolly leaves. (c) An umbelliferous Australian flower (Actinotus helianthi), often erroneously thought to be composite. The involucre looks as if cut out of white flannel.
Flare, n. (Photog.) A defect in a photographic objective such that an image of the stop, or diaphragm, appears as a fogged spot in the center of the developed negative.
Flare"-up`, n. A sudden bursting into flame; a flaring.
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.
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.