▪ I. flaw, n.1
(flɔː)
Forms: 4 flay, 4–7 flawe, (6 flaa), 4– flaw.
[Perh. a. ON. flaga wk. fem., recorded in sense ‘slab of stone’ (Sw. flaga flake, also flaw in a casting, etc.; Da. flage may correspond either to this word or to flake n.2, q.v.). The ON. word may have been used in wider senses derived from the various applications of the Teut. root *flah-, flag- parallel and synonymous with *flak- whence flake n.2; the close resemblance in sense between flaw and flake is noteworthy. It is possible that an OE. *flaᵹe, *flaᵹu existed.]
I. A detached piece of something.
† 1. A flake (of snow); a flake or spark (of fire). Obs. (Cf. flake n.2 1, 2.)
| c 1325 Gloss W. de Biblesw. in Wright Voc. 160 La bouche me entra la aunf de neyf [gloss a flay of snow]. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2556 Þe flawes of fyre flawmes one theire helmes. a 1400–50 Alexander 1756 Riȝt as a flaw of fell snawe ware fallyn of a ryft. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. i. 78 Sternys..Wes sene, as flawys of fyre brynnand. 1483 Cath. Angl. 133/1 A flawe of fire. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. ii. 112 Hir crownell..Infyrit all of byrnand flawis schane. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iv. 35 As sudden, As Flawes congealed in the Spring of day. |
2. A fragment; spec. Sc. ‘the point of a horsenail broken off by the smith after it has passed through the hoof’ (Jam.). Hence in not worth a flaw. (Cf. flake n.2 3.) Obs. exc. Sc.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 288 But this heart shal break into a hundred thousand flawes. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 415 It will ranckle worse, by reason of the flaw of yron remaining in the flesh. 1810 J. Sim Deil & M'Ommie in Harp Perthsh. (1893) 96 Your reasons are no worth a flaw. |
3. (Cf. flake n.2 4, 5, and flag n.2 1, 2.) a. A turf, or collect. turf. a flaw of peats: the quantity got in a season.
| 1811 A. Scott Poems 161 (Jam.) A lusty whid About what flaws o' peats they've casten, and sae gude. 1836 Richardson, Sods flayed or stripped from the top of the surface of the earth are in the North called ‘flaws’. |
† b. A slab or layer of stone. Obs.
| 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 151 [An alleged Saxon flostane] signifieth a rocke, coast, or flaw of stone. |
II. A breach, broken or faulty place.
4. A crack, breach, fissure, rent, rift.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §79 Though the Vessell were whole, without any Flaw. 1685 Dryden Thren. August. i. 31 If..with a mighty Flaw the flaming wall, Shou'd gape immense. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Flaw, a water-flaw and a crack in Chrystals. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock ii. 106 Or some frail China-jar receive a Flaw. a 1745 Swift (J.), He that would keep his house in repair, must attend every little breach or flaw. 1764 Burn Poor Laws 236 Where a flaw is observed [in their apparel], a patch is provided for it. 1842 Longfellow Sp. Stud. iii. vi, The merest flaw that dents the horizon's edge. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xxiv. 355 On the closest examination no flaw is exhibited by the ice. |
| fig. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. xii. 34 Obserue how Anthony becomes his flaw. 1615 Wither Sheph. Hunt iii. Juvenilia (1633) 412 When to my minde griefe gives a flaw Best comforts doe but make my woes more fell. 1644 Milton Divorce To Parl., He will soder up the shifting flaws of his unjust permissions. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. v. 480 He has to be called in to alter the working of his own machine..to fill up its flaws. |
† b. ‘A disease in which the skin recedes from the nail’ (Cent. Dict.). Obs.
The expression white flawe is one of the original forms of the word whitlow, q.v.
| 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 52 Rapes are good for white flawes, and such like diseases of the nailes. 1580 Baret Alv. F 669 A white flawe, rediuia. |
5. A defect, imperfection, fault, blemish. a. in material things.
| 1604 Dekker Honest Wh. x. G iij a, I warrant they are sound pistols, and without flawes. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 391 Thou hast a Crack, Flaw, soft Place in thy Skull. 1684 R. H. Sch. Recreat. 149 The best sound Cork without Flaws or Holes. 1713 Steele Guardian No. 16 ¶5 The smallest blemish in it, like a flaw in a jewel, takes off the whole value of it. 1801 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Tears & Smiles Wks. 1812 V. 14 Grieve so fair a Diamond holds a flaw. 1869 J. J. Raven Ch. Bells Camb. (1881) 2 The bell was never good for anything, from the number of flaws in the casting. 1882 Ouida Maremma I. 67 Grew..without a flaw anywhere, in feature, or limb, or body. |
b. in immaterial things, and fig.
| 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary (1625) 75 There is..but one..slender flaw in the touchstone of thy reputation. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 415 My loue to thee is sound sans cracke or flaw. 1625 Bacon Ess., Riches (Arb.) 237 Vsury is the certainest Meanes of Gaine..But yet it hath Flawes. 1667 Poole Dial. betw. Protest. & Papist (1735) 46 There is a Flaw in the very Foundation of your Argument. 1705 Berkeley Commonpl. Bk. Wks. 1871 IV. 455 They discover flaws and imperfections in their faculties. 1772 Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) II. 291 We should have thought [it] a considerable flaw in their characters. 1840 Thirlwall Greece VII. lvi. 146 No flaw was ever detected in his reckonings. 1855 C. Brontë Villette i. 2 He inherited..her health without a flaw. |
c. esp. In a legal document or procedure, a pedigree, title, etc.: An invalidating defect or fault.
| 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle v. 2049 The lease, that hath noe flawe, For a whole hundred yeares is good in lawe. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 448 Some flaw or other must be found in his Relations and Pedigree. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) II. 194 A Prince who knew there was a flaw in his title would always govern well. 1848 Dickens Dombey ii, There seemed to be no flaw in the title of Polly Toodle. 1883 Sir T. Martin Ld. Lyndhurst iv. 116 The evidence [was] clear, and a flaw in the indictment was the only chance of escape. |
d. A failure in duty; a shortcoming in conduct, a fault.
| 1742 Young Nt. Th. v. 142 Each salutation may slide in a sin Unthought before, or fix a former flaw. 1781 Cowper Truth 550 Life for obedience, death for every flaw. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxxvi, That will not only cure spiritual flaws, but make us friends with the Church again. |
6. Sc. A ‘fib’, falsehood.
| 1724 Ramsay Gent. Sheph. ii. iii, I shall tell ye a' That ilk ane talks about you, but a flaw. 1788 E. Picken Auld Harry's Elegy 16 Poems 118 They taul sic flaws, An' wantet to mak' black o' white, Without a cause. |
7. Comb., as flaw-seeking adj.
| 1844 Lowell Love 25 Not with flaw-seeking eyes like needle-points. |
▪ II. flaw, n.2
(flɔː)
[Not found until 16th c.; possibly:—OE. *flaᵹu = MDu. vlāghe (Du. vlaag), MLG. vlage, Sw. flaga, of same meaning; the primary sense may be ‘stroke’ (Aryan root *plak-: see flay v.).]
1. A sudden burst or squall of wind; a sudden blast or gust, usually of short duration.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 49 Flaggis of fyir, and mony felloun flawe. 1526 Tindale Acts xxvii. 14 A flawe off wynde out of the northeste. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xi. 13 Within a moment arose..a sodain Borasque or Flaa. 1628 Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 51 Towardes night..wind..came vncertainely and by flawes. 1674 J. Josselyn Voy. New Eng. 54 We have upon our Coast in England a Michaelmas flaw, that seldom fails. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 128 It blew..not only by squalls and sudden flaws but a settled terrible tempest. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. vi. ix. (1849) 379 [He] was knocked overboard by the boom of a sloop in a flaw of wind. 1839 Longfellow Wreck Hesperus iii, He..watched how the veering flaw did blow The smoke, now West now South. 1881 Scribner's Monthly XXII. 530/1 The playful breeze freshens in flaws. |
| fig. 1567 Turberv. Louer to Cupid Epitaphes (1867) 85 Dispaire that grewe by frowarde fortunes flawes. 1590 Nashe Pasquil's Apol. 7 The Church is ouertaken with such a flawe, that [etc.]. 1840 Marryat Olla Podr. III. 24 He would flounder and diverge away right and left, just as the flaws of ideas came into his head. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xv. 375 Flatterers who shroud themselves from the first flaw of adversity that rocks the structure. |
b. A fall of rain or snow accompanied by gusty winds; a short spell of rough weather.
| 1791 Statist. Acc. Scot. I. 422 The falls of snow, which generally happen in March all over Great Britain, is in this neighbourhood called St. Causnan's Flaw. 1830 Scott Jrnl. 7 July, I rather like a flaw of weather. 1892 Stevenson Across the Plains 209 The flaws of fine weather, which we pathetically call our summer. Ibid. 212 Scouring flaws of rain. |
† 2. fig. A sudden rush or onset; a burst of feeling or passion; a sudden uproar or tumult. Obs.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. v. 6 She at the first encounter on him ran..But he..from that first flaw him selfe right well defended. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. iv. 63 O, these flawes and starts..would well become A womans story. 1676 Dryden Aurengz. v. i, And deluges of armies from the town Came pouring in; I heard the mighty Flaw When first it broke. |
¶ 3. Used as rendering of F. fléau scourge.
| 1481 Caxton Godfrey 33 Suffred a grete flawe to come in to the contre, for to chastyse the peple. |
4. Comb. as flaw-blown adj.; also, † flaw-flower, a name for Anemone Pulsatilla.
| 1820 Keats Eve St. Agnes xxxvii, Quick pattereth the *flaw-blown sleet. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. lxxiii. §3. 309 Passe flower is called..after the Latin name Pulsatill, or *Flawe flower. |
▪ III. † flaw, a. Obs.—1
[? ad. L. flāvus.]
? Yellow. (So in glossaries, but the meaning is doubtful.)
| c 1450 Crt. of Love 782 Lily forehede had this creature, With liveliche browes, flaw, of colour pure. |
▪ IV. flaw, v.1
(flɔː)
[f. flaw n.1]
1. trans. To make a flaw or crack in; to crack; to damage by a crack or fissure; to cause a defect in, mar.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. 34 The blunt end..seemed irregularly flawed with divers clefts. 1676 Phil. Trans. XI. 755 That stuns the Diamond and so flaws it. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 558 The Brazen Cauldrons with the Frost are flaw'd. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. I. 362 [Glass] being reduced to powder, or otherwise flawed. 1800 Howard in Phil. Trans. XC. 208 The breech..was torn open and flawed in many directions. 1854 Dickens Hard T. 131 They fell to pieces with such ease that you might suspect them of having been flawed before. |
b. with immaterial object, or fig.
| 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, i, i. 95 France hath flaw'd the League. Ibid. i. ii. 21 Which hath flaw'd the heart Of all their Loyalties. 1638 Ford Lady's Trial ii. ii, He answer'd, My worship needed not to flaw his right. 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. vii. (1869) 67 It must be owned..that she had a fault of character that flawed her perfections. 1887 Swinburne Locrine i. ii. 178 Have I not sinned already—flawed my faith? |
† c. to flaw off: to break off in ‘flaws’ or small pieces. Obs. Cf. to flake off.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. 98 By looking on the surface of a piece newly flaw'd off. |
† d. slang. To make drunk. Obs.
| 1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 168 He that is flawed in the Company before the rest. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Flaw'd, drunk. 1725 in New Cant. Dict. |
2. intr. To become cracked. † Also, to break off in flakes or small pieces (obs.).
| 1648 Herrick Hesper. (1869) 68 This round Is no where found To flaw. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 33 Those that flaw'd off in large pieces were prettily branched. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 103 It hath crack'd, flaw'd, and rose in ridges. 1774 Projects in Ann. Reg. 112/1 No less fit for the inside of buildings, than tenacious and incapable of cracking or flawing. 1831 Landor Count Julian Wks. 1846 II. 514 The original clay of coarse mortality Hardens and flaws around her. 1857 P. Colquhoun Comp. Oarsman's Guide 9 Elm is very apt to flaw and splinter short in the lans. |
3. Sc. To lie or fib. Cf. flaw n.1 6.
| 1724 Ramsay Gent. Sheph. ii. i, But dinna flaw, Tell o'er your news again, and swear till 't a'. |
▪ V. flaw, v.2
(flɔː)
[f. flaw n.2]
a. intr. Of the wind: To blow in gusts. b. trans. To ruffle as a flaw of wind does. rare.
| 1805 Flinders in Phil. Trans. XCVI. 245 The wind..flawing from one side and the other. 1891 Stevenson South Seas ii. xvi. in Age (Melbourne) 20 June 4/3 Long catspaws flawed the face of the lagoon. |
▪ VI. flaw
obs. or dial. form of flay.