flatter
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Flat \Flat\ (fl[a^]t), a. [Compar. {Flatter} (fl[a^]t"r[~e]r);
superl. {Flattest} (fl[a^]t"t[e^]st).] [Akin to Icel. flatr,
Sw. flat, Dan. flad, OHG. flaz, and AS. flet floor, G.
fl["o]tz stratum, layer.]
1. Having an even and horizontal surface, or nearly so,
without prominences or depressions; level without
inclination; plane.
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Though sun and moon
Were in the flat sea sunk. --Milton.
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2. Lying at full length, or spread out, upon the ground;
level with the ground or earth; prostrate; as, to lie flat
on the ground; hence, fallen; laid low; ruined; destroyed.
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What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat! --Milton.
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I feel . . . my hopes all flat. --Milton.
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3. (Fine Arts) Wanting relief; destitute of variety; without
points of prominence and striking interest.
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A large part of the work is, to me, very flat.
--Coleridge.
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4. Tasteless; stale; vapid; insipid; dead; as, fruit or drink
flat to the taste.
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5. Unanimated; dull; uninteresting; without point or spirit;
monotonous; as, a flat speech or composition.
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How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world. --Shak.
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6. Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings;
depressed; dull; as, the market is flat.
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7. Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive;
downright.
Syn: flat-out.
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Flat burglary as ever was committed. --Shak.
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A great tobacco taker too, -- that's flat.
--Marston.
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8. (Mus.)
(a) Below the true pitch; hence, as applied to intervals,
minor, or lower by a half step; as, a flat seventh; A
flat.
(b) Not sharp or shrill; not acute; as, a flat sound.
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9. (Phonetics) Sonant; vocal; -- applied to any one of the
sonant or vocal consonants, as distinguished from a
nonsonant (or sharp) consonant.
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10. (Golf) Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft;
-- said of a club.
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11. (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 -["e], the
loss of this ending having made them like the adjectives.
Some having forms in ly, such as exceeding, wonderful,
true, are now archaic.
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12. (Hort.) Flattening at the ends; -- said of certain
fruits.
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{Flat arch}. (Arch.) See under {Arch}, n., 2. (b).
{Flat cap}, cap paper, not folded. See under {Paper}.
{Flat chasing}, in fine art metal working, a mode of
ornamenting silverware, etc., producing figures by dots
and lines made with a punching tool. --Knight.
{Flat chisel}, a sculptor's chisel for smoothing.
{Flat file}, a file wider than its thickness, and of
rectangular section. See {File}.
{Flat nail}, a small, sharp-pointed, wrought nail, with a
flat, thin head, larger than a tack. --Knight.
{Flat paper}, paper which has not been folded.
{Flat rail}, a railroad rail consisting of a simple flat bar
spiked to a longitudinal sleeper.
{Flat rods} (Mining), horizontal or inclined connecting rods,
for transmitting motion to pump rods at a distance.
--Raymond.
{Flat rope}, a rope made by plaiting instead of twisting;
gasket; sennit.
Note: Some flat hoisting ropes, as for mining shafts, are
made by sewing together a number of ropes, making a
wide, flat band. --Knight.
{Flat space}. (Geom.) See {Euclidian space}.
{Flat stitch}, the process of wood engraving. [Obs.] -- {Flat
tint} (Painting), a coat of water color of one uniform shade.
{To fall flat} (Fig.), to produce no effect; to fail in the
intended effect; as, his speech fell flat.
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Of all who fell by saber or by shot,
Not one fell half so flat as Walter Scott. --Lord
Erskine.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Flatter \Flat"ter\ (fl[a^]t"t[~e]r), n.
1. One who, or that which, makes flat or flattens.
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2. (Metal Working)
(a) A flat-faced fulling hammer.
(b) A drawplate with a narrow, rectangular orifice, for
drawing flat strips, as watch springs, etc.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Flatter \Flat"ter\ (fl[a^]t"t[~e]r), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
{Flattered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Flattering}.] [OE. flateren,
cf. OD. flatteren; akin to G. flattern to flutter, Icel.
fla[eth]ra to fawn, flatter: cf. F. flatter. Cf. {Flitter},
{Flutter}, {Flattery}.]
1. To treat with praise or blandishments; to gratify or
attempt to gratify the self-love or vanity of, esp. by
artful and interested commendation or attentions; to
blandish; to cajole; to wheedle.
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When I tell him he hates flatterers,
He says he does, being then most flattered. --Shak.
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A man that flattereth his neighbor, spreadeth a net
for his feet. --Prov. xxix.
5.
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Others he flattered by asking their advice.
--Prescott.
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2. To raise hopes in; to encourage or favorable, but
sometimes unfounded or deceitful, representations.
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3. To portray too favorably; to give a too favorable idea of;
as, his portrait flatters him.
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from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
88 Moby Thesaurus words for "flatter":
adorn, adulate, apotheosize, beautify, become, beguile, belaud,
bend the knee, bepraise, beslobber, beslubber, blandish, bless,
blow up, boast of, bootlick, bow, bow and scrape, brag about,
brown-nose, butter up, cajole, celebrate, coax, complement,
compliment, conceit, court, cower, crawl, creep, cringe, crouch,
cry up, decorate, deify, embellish, emblazon, enhance, eulogize,
exalt, extol, fawn, fawn upon, finish, flannel, glorify, grovel,
hero-worship, idolize, inveigle, kneel, kowtow, laud,
lick the dust, lickspittle, lionize, magnify, make fair weather,
make much of, oil, oil the tongue, ornament, overpraise, palaver,
panegyrize, pay tribute, perfect, play up to, porter aux nues,
praise, puff, puff up, salute, shine up to, slobber over,
soft-soap, stoop, suck up to, suit, sweet-talk, toadeat, toady,
toady to, truckle, truckle to, trumpet, wheedle
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