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.
Fling"dust` (?), n. One who kicks up the dust; a streetwalker; a low
manner. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.
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 (ArchÊol.), 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.]
Flint" glass` (?). (Chem.) A soft, heavy, brilliant glass, consisting
essentially of a silicate of lead and potassium. It is used for
tableware, and for optical instruments, as prisms, its density giving a
high degree of dispersive power; -- so called, because formerly the
silica was obtained from pulverized flints. Called also crystal glass.
Cf. Glass.
The concave or diverging half on an achromatic lens is usually made of
flint glass.
Flint"-heart`ed (?), a. Hard- hearted. Shak.
Flint"i*ness (?), n. The state or quality of being flinty; hardness;
cruelty. Beau. & Fl.
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.
Flint"ware` (?), n. A superior kind of earthenware into whose
composition flint enters largely. Knight.
Flint"wood` (?), n. (Bot.) An Australian name for the very hard wood of
the Eucalyptus piluralis.
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 (?), n. [Cf. Prov. E. flip nimble, flippant, also, a slight blow.
Cf. Flippant.] A mixture of beer, spirit, etc., stirred and heated by a
hot iron.
Flip dog, an iron used, when heated, to warm flip.
Flip, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Flipped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Flipping.] To
toss or fillip; as, to flip up a cent.
As when your little ones Do 'twixt their fingers flip their cherry
stones.
W. Browne.
Flipe (?), v. t. To turn inside out, or with the leg part back over the
foot, as a stocking in pulling off or for putting on. [Scot.]
Flip"-flap` (?), n. [See Flip, and Flap.] The repeated stroke of
something long and loose. Johnson.
Flip"-flap`, adv. With repeated strokes and noise, as of something long
and loose. Ash.
Flip"pan*cy (?), n.[See Flippant.] The state or quality of being
flippant.
This flippancy of language.
Bp. Hurd.
Flip"pant (?), a. [Prov. E. flip to move nimbly; cf. W. llipa soft,
limber, pliant, or Icel. fleipa to babble, prattle. Cf. Flip, Fillip,
Flap, Flipper.] 1. Of smooth, fluent, and rapid speech; speaking with
ease and rapidity; having a voluble tongue; talkative.
It becometh good men, in such cases, to be flippant and free in
their speech.
Barrow.
2. Speaking fluently and confidently, without knowledge or
consideration; empty; trifling; inconsiderate; pert; petulant.
"Flippant epilogues." Thomson.
To put flippant scorn to the blush.