▪ I. flake, n.1
(fleɪk)
Forms: 4–6 flek(e, 5–6 fleyke, 6 fleake, Sc. flaik, 7–8 fleak, (7 fleack), 5– flake. dial. 9 fleigh, fleak, flaik.
[? a. ON. flake, fleke wk. masc., hurdle, wicker shield (Da. flage hurdle), corresponding to MDu. vlāke fem. (mod.Du. vlaak hurdle on which wool is beaten), MLG. and mod.LG. flake sort of fishing net. The senses of the word seem to point to some root meaning to plait; a connexion with OTeut. *flehtan (= L. plectĕre, f. root *plek-; cf. Gr. πλέκειν) to plait, is suggested by the Ger. synonym flechte (cf. Ger. käseflechte = cheese-flake in 2 below), but involves phonological difficulties. The L. plăga net, is prob. cognate.]
1. a. A wattled hurdle. Now dial.; in some places applied in wider sense to a hurdle of any kind.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 321 A brigge he suld do wrihte, Botes & barges ilkon, with flekes mak þam tighte. 1415 Churchw. Acc. Somerset (1890) 68 For fityng off flakes and hurdylls..vjd. c 1470 Harding Chron. clxxvii. 1 When they were ouer y⊇ quake of mosse & mire, They drewe the flekes ay after as they went. 1511 Nottingham Rec. III. 330, ij. fleykes to be set bytwen y⊇ masons and the wynde. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. ii. 14 Sum of Eneas feris bessely Flakis to plet thame pressis by and by. 1743 Lond. & Country Brew. iv. (ed. 2) 322 If the Wind blows there are set Fleaks to shelter the Heap. 1863 Greaves in N. & Q. Ser. 3 III. 96 This [oblong mound] is surrounded by iron fleaks or hurdles. |
b. The same used as a temporary gate.
| c 1514 Exam. C. More in Chetham Misc. II. 16 Never ȝate..but a letull fleke that was for the most parte teyed fast. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 325 A Fleack, a Gate set up in a Gap. 1847 Halliwell, Flake..a temporary gate or door. |
2. a. A frame or rack for storing provisions, in mod. use esp. oat-cakes. Cf. bread-flake.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xii. 248 Plommes summen drie, And hem on fleykes kepe. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 156 b, Ley this meate in trayes and flekis. 1578 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 281, iiij chesis and a flake, iiijs..A chese flake, iiij{supd}. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 171 One peare of fleakes. 1800 Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts XVIII. 335 Netted frames, resembling the flakes used in Yorkshire for drying oat-cakes. 1865 B. Brierley Irkdale I. 91 A ‘flake’ or ‘fleigh’, well thatched with cresp-looking and nicely browned oatcakes. |
b. A stage or frame used for drying produce, esp. fish; a fish-flake. upland flake: a flake for drying codfish, built permanently upon the shore.
| 1623 Whitbourne Newfoundland 57 Flakes whereon men yeerely dry their fish. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. xxxv. (1653) 230 When it [Woad] is ground it is to be..laid upon the fleakes to dry. 1792 J. Belknap Hist. New-Hampsh. III. 215 The fish is..spread on hurdles, composed of brush, and raised on stakes, about three or four feet from the ground; these are called flakes. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. II. xxxvi. 393 Wherever safe inlets invited fishermen to spread their flakes. |
3. Naut. (See quot.)
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk, Flake, a small shifting stage, hung over a ship's side to caulk or repair a breach. |
† 4. A flap on a saddle to keep the rider's knee from touching the horse. [Perh. a distinct word. Cf. flet n.2] Obs.
| 1568 Turberv. in Hakl. Voy. I. 388 Of birch their saddles be, Much fashioned like the Scottish seates, broad flakes to keepe the knee From sweating of the horse. |
5. Mining. A framework of boards, used as a shelter against rain and wind.
| 1653 E. Manlove Lead-mines 8 Fleaks, Knockings, Coestid. 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. I j b, Fleaks [are] those very useful things that the Miner uses to make for Shilter, when he has as yet no Côe to hold off the Wind and Rain from his Shaft. 1824 in J. Mander Derbysh. Miners' Gloss. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as flake-hurdle; also flake-room, flake-yard, ‘an inclosure in which flakes for drying salt are built, and in which fish are dried’ (Cent. Dict.).
| 1890 Gloucestersh. Gloss., *Flake or Vlake hurdle, a wattled hurdle. 1894 Morris Wood beyond World xvii. 132 A tall fence of flake-hurdles. |
| 1856 J. Reynolds Peter Gott (Bartlett), The owners of vessels have a *flake-yard in the vicinity of the landing⁓places, to which the fish are carried on being landed. |
▪ II. flake, n.2
(fleɪk)
Forms: 6–8 fleak(e, 9 dial. fleak, Sc. flaike, 4– flake.
[Of difficult etymology: possibly several distinct words have coalesced, though ultimate derivation from the Aryan root plā̆g- (cf. Gr. πληγνύναι to beat), parallel and synonymous with plā̆k- (cf. Lith. plakù I beat) may plausibly account for all the senses, and also for the fact that most of these resemble senses belonging to flaw or flaught, or to related words in other Teut. langs. (f. Aryan root plak-). Sense 1 has not been found earlier than Chaucer, though Junius cites an OE. ‘flacea {oeamp} flæðra, flaws or flakes of snow’; it appears to be cognate with ON. flóke flock of wool, lock of hair, and perh. with OHG. floccho of same meaning (if this be genuinely a Teut. word, repr. a pre-Teut. *pləgnén-, and not an adoption of L. floccus); the OE. flacor, fluttering, has also been compared. The Da. flage, sneflage, usually cited as equivalent to E. flake, perh. corresponds rather to flaw (Da. g representing ON. g as well as ON. k); the Dansk Ordbog 1800 explains it as a large mass of falling snow, as opposed to flok which means a ‘flake’ in the Eng. sense. The senses expressing the notion of ‘something peeled or split off’ may be compared with flay v. (OTeut. *flah-:—OAryan *plak-). There is possibly a third primary sense, ‘something flat’; cf. OHG. flah adj. (mod.Ger. flach), Du. vlak flat, Sw. flaka plate, Norw. flak ice-floe. But the mutual relation of the Eng. senses is very uncertain.]
1. a. One of the small flocculent pieces in which snow falls.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 102 As flakes fallen in great snowes. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet 2 For your flakes of snowe weele pay you with stones of hayle. 1597–8 Bp. Hall Sat. i. vii, White as..flakes new blowne. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 5 Temples spread with flakes of virgin snow. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 326 The downy flakes Descending..Assimilate all objects. 1820 Shelley Sensitive Plant iii. 26 The rose-leaves, like flakes of crimson snow, Paved the turf. |
b. A light fleecy tuft; a small piece of some light loosely-cohering substance, as down or fluff; a flock; a fleecy streak (of cloud).
| 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. ii. vii. (1712) 61 All the Businesses of Men do very much depend upon these little long Fleaks or Threads of Hemp and Flax. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 202 Looking most like to a flake of Worsted prepar'd to be spun. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 153 In the Flake [orig. flocon] there are seven Seeds as large as Lupins. 1741 Stack in Phil. Trans. XLI. 600 Some small Fleaks of Clouds. 1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike i. 14 You had rather see her covered with white cotton flakes than with yellow ribands. 1855 Kingsley Heroes i. (1868) 5 Rocks and breakers and flying flakes of foam. 1877 Black Green Past. xxxv. (1878) 278 There was not a flake of cloud in the sky. |
c. ? Gossamer thread. rare—1.
| 1817 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. II. xxiii 336 They pull in their long thread..so as to form it into a ball..of flake. |
2. A portion of ignited matter thrown off by a burning or incandescent body; a detached portion of flame; † a flash (of lightning).
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 954 Flakes of soufre. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ii. 5 The rosy red Flasht through her face, as it had beene a flake Of lightning through bright heven fulmined. 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. E viij b, Which all at once doe vomit Sulphure flakes. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. i. iii, All the upper vault Thick lac't with flakes of fire. 1660 Howell Lexicon, Flakes that flee from hammered red hot iron. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 254 Huge Flakes of Flames expire. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. I. 303 Like falling flakes of fire. 1877 Bryant Poems, Voice of Autumn i, Forest leaves..fall, like flakes of light. |
3. A minute exfoliated piece of something, a scale, flattish fragment; † a splinter (of wood). In the first quot. app. fig., a ‘bit’, small portion.
| c 1500 Maid Emlyn 109 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 86 A frere dyd she gyue Of her loue a flake. 1533 More Apol. i. Wks. 845/2 Sifted to y⊇ vttermost flake of branne. 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 69 Some graines of muske and Ambres flake. a 1648 Digby Closet Open. in Leisure H. (1884) 377/1 Three or four flakes of Mace. 1676 Grew Anat. Plants (1682) 263 Flakes or Grains of Bay-Salt. 1705 Addison Italy 370 Little Flakes of Scurfe. c 1720 W. Gibson Farrier's Guide ii. lxxxix. (1738) 252 A Prick of a Nail, a Stub, or a Fleak. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 21 Fine iron flakes. |
4. a. A thin broad piece peeled or split off from the surface of something. In recent use also spec. a chip of hard stone used in prehistoric times as a cutting instrument; cf. flint-flake.
| 1591 G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (Hakluyt Soc.) 14 They..teare it [a rock] into thin flakes..and so use it for glasse-lanthorns. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 467 The flint or rock..will cleaue in length, and come away by the sides in broad flakes. 1607 Topsell Serpents (1658) 675 A thin fleak of a horn, which being laid over black, seemeth black. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 218 The Beam and Tooth..cut and tore away great Flakes of the Mettal. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xvi. (1852) 369 The shells..scaling off in flakes. 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times i. (1878) 13 We have a list comprising..310 long flakes and about 2000 small ones. 1875 Lyell Princ. Geol. II. iii. xlvii. 367 Flint Flakes having a fine cutting edge..are met with. |
b. A piece of skin or flesh peeled or torn off; † a torn strip (of a garment).
| 1611 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iii. Schisme 236 Her mantle (tattered all in flakes). 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 30 The skin, instead of becoming branny, separated in large flakes. 1877 Bryant Odyss. v. 520 Flakes of skin..Were left upon the rock. 1894 Daily News 26 June 8/2 The flesh hung in flakes..on his arm. |
c. pl. Short for cornflakes (corn n.1 11).
| 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 371/2 Crisp flakes with cold milk and sugar. |
5. a. A stratum, lamina, or layer. (In quot. 1616 applied to the shell of an oyster.)
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) i. 21 b, The Plowe..breakes it not small yenough, but turneth up great flakes. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage vi. v. §2 (1626) 649 A Sedgie Reed..called Papyrus, which easily diuides it selfe into thinne flakes. 1616 Browne Brit. Past. ii. iii. 56 And claps it twixt the two pearle hiding flakes Of the broad yawning Oyster. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 485 Flakes or thin laminæ. 1843 Portlock Geol. 543 A dark green, talcose, clayey matter, disposed in irregular flakes. 1882 Garden 14 Jan. 27/3 Thymes and Veronicas grow over stones in great flakes when let alone. |
b. pl. (See quot.)
| 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, Flaikes, shaly or fissile sandstone. |
6. A (loose) sheet of ice; a floe.
| 1555 Eden Decades 305 The flakes or pieses of Ise doo flote aboue the water. 1685 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 297 Vast flakes of ice of severall miles. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 139 To coast..in small vessels, between the great flakes of ice and the shore. 1820 W. Scoresby Arct. Reg. I. 243 Immense flakes of ice..resembling fields in the extent of their surface. |
7. pl. The portions into which the flesh, esp. of certain fish, naturally falls.
| 1611 Bible Job xli. 23 The flakes of his flesh are ioyned together. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxvi. (1748) 371 [The salmon] whose grain doth rise in flakes with fatness interlarded. 1698 Tyson Opossum in Phil. Trans. XX. 139 Laminæ [of fat]..easily separable from one another, in broad Fleaks. 1892 H. Hutchinson Fairway Isl. 19 The salmon..was insipid..though Mr. Trewin..showed the curd between its flakes. |
8. A bundle of parallel threads or fibres; a lock or band of hair not twisted or plaited. arch.
| 1592 Lyly Midas iii. ii, Your mustachoes..hanging downe to your mouth like goates flakes. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 37 Maho..Whose Bark is made up of strings or threads..You may draw it off either in flakes or small threads. 1713 Steele Guardian No. 86 ¶5 The flakes of hair which naturally suggest the idea of lightning. 1792 Dibdin Female Crusoe in Naval Chron. XXIV. 464, I dressed some..cotton into..thin flakes. 1839 Marryat Phantom Ship viii, His hair..fell in long flakes upon his shoulders. 1870 Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 363 The heavy straying flakes of unfilleted hair. |
| transf. 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 908 That Honey is best for substance, which..if you lift it up..falls to the earth still homogeneous, unsevered, no way parted asunder, but remaines in one continued flake or line. |
9. A kind of carnation with striped petals.
| 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Carnation, The Flakes are of two Colours only, and those always strip'd. 1822 Loudon Encycl. Gardening iii. ii. 977 The varieties of this flower [carnation] are now arranged in three classes: flakes, bizarres, and picotées. |
10. a. [from the vb.] A small fracture or ‘chip’.
| 1866–7 G. Stephens Runic Mon. I. 205 A mere accidental flake, and not touching the letter itself. |
b. [Back-formation f. flaky a. 4.] One who is ‘flaky’ or liable to act in an eccentric or crazy manner, a ‘screwball’; also, a foolish, slow-witted, or unreliable person. slang (chiefly U.S.).
| 1968 Time 9 Feb. 71/1 He has a well-deserved reputation as something of a flake. During an exhibition ski jump in Switzerland, Jean-Claude shocked spectators by dropping his trousers in mid-air. 1968–70 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III–IV. 47 Flake, a dumbbell; one who is not very bright. — College students, both sexes, New Hampshire. 1973 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 July 36/1 Richard Quincy Thornton is always considered by squares, as the finest flake outside of a box of breakfast cereal. 1974 R. B. Parker Godwulf MS vii. 58 ‘There's a lot of flakes in that department. There's a lot of flakes in most departments, if you really want to know.’ .. ‘Okay, but who is the flakiest?’ 1980 Christian Science Monitor 10 Apr. 22/2 The media, normally in love with articulateness for the sake of articulateness, stopped quoting Brown, dismissing him as a ‘flake’ — a rap that stuck despite all the banker's suits and ties and one of the shortest haircuts in the race. 1982 W. Safire in N.Y. Times Mag. 24 Oct. 16 Out in California, Gov. Jerry Brown—often called a flake—was campaigning against San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson for United States Senator...Larry Liebert..quoted an anonymous Brown aide as asking: ‘Why trade a flake for a wimp.’ 1983 Easyriders Feb. 77/3 Gotta git rid of that flake Bobby Joe. He's just too gutless for the big time. |
11. a. attrib. in the trade names for varieties of certain products, as flake-manna, flake-tapioca, flake-tobacco, from their flaky appearance.
| 1886 Daily News 24 Dec. 2/6 Tapioca..Singapore flake sold at rather firmer prices. 1889 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v. Manna, Flake Manna, a term employed in English commerce to denote the larger fragments and better qualities of manna. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 14 Feb. 2/1 Flake tobaccos..are growing..in popularity. |
b. Comb., as flake-heaped ppl. a.; also flake-feather, a plumule of extreme fineness and silky texture, found in falconine birds; hence flake-feathered adj. (in quot. transf.); flake-stand, the cooling-tub of a still-worm; flake-white, a pigment made from the purest white-lead in the form of flakes or scales.
| 1837 W. Macgillivray Brit. Birds I. Introd. 79 If it be necessary to give these feathers a name, they may be called *flake-feathers. |
| 1848 D. Greenwell Poems 35 The *flake-feathered trees show like giant plumes. |
| 1880 Browning Dram. Idylls Ser. ii. Pan. & Luna 38 *Flake-heaped how or whence, The structure of that succourable cloud, What matter? |
| 1830 Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 255 The mash-tun and *flakestand might both be worth twelve shillings. |
| 1660 Albert Durer Revived 18 White Lead, or *Flake White. 1752 Lady Luxborough Let. to Shenstone 6 Nov., My great parlour..is painted with flake⁓white. 1883 J. Payn Thicker than Water xxix. (1884) 229 Her whole face with a pallor on it like flake white or dead white. |
c. attrib. and Comb. uses in Archæol. (see sense 4 above) as flake-knife, etc.; flake culture, a prehistoric culture using flake implements.
| 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. viii. 195 The flake-knives are very rude. 1924 M. C. Burkitt Our Forerunners 81 If small flakes have been taken off round a flint core which is then split in half, the result is a flat under-surface..on the other side of which are flake scars. 1926, 1935 [see core n.1 5]. 1927 Peake & Fleure Hunters & Artists iv. 42 Flake implements, or those formed by working up the edges of the flakes struck from a core, only came into gradual use in Acheulian times, and even then were not common. 1928 D. A. E. Garrod in Proc. Prehist. Soc. E. Anglia V. iii. 266 From what I have called the ‘blade-culture’-group we turn to the great cycle of ‘flake-industries’. 1935, 1943 [see blade n. 6 b]. 1937 [see biface]. 1937 Garrod & Bate Stone Age Mt. Carmel I. i. iii. 32 Flake-scrapers..are flakes with scraper retouch round some part of the edge. The majority are rough and shapeless. 1947 J. & C. Hawkes Prehist. Brit. (ed. 2) i. 10 White flake cultures are predominantly Eastern, extending right across Asia, the core cultures have an African bias. 1957 Childe Dawn Europ. Civilization (ed. 6) i. 11 Flake-axes..mounted as adze-blades in perforated antler sleeves. 1957 L. MacNeice Visitations 29 Flake-tool; core-tool. 1959 Antiquity XXXIII. 17 A flake-blade industry of Neolithic type. |
▪ III. † flake, n.3 Obs.
[Cf. Du. vlak blot, speck; also fleck n.]
A blemish, flaw, fleck.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 946 Hys flok is with-outen flake. 1555 Eden Decades 233 They espie in theim euery smaule spot or flake. |
▪ IV. † flake, n.4 Obs. rare—1.
[? a. F. flaque or Du. vlacke (Kilian).]
A shallow pool, salt-marsh.
| 1598 tr. Linschoten's Disc. Voy. i. iii. 5/2 Vpon the coast of Brasillia..lieth great flakes or shallowes, which the Portingales call Abrashos. |
▪ V. † flake, n.5 Obs.
Also fleake.
[Cf. OHG. flec blow, stroke, also Du. vlaag gust of wind, flaw.]
a. ? A heavy blow. b. A gust of wind.
| 1559 Mirr. Mag., Salisbury xxxix, A pellet came, and drove a myghty fleake, Agaynst my face. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 17 A flake of wind. |
▪ VI. flake, n.6
(fleɪk)
[Cf. fake n.1, and Ger. flechte of same meaning.]
= fake n.1
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accidence 27 Coyle your cable in small flakes [printed slakes]. 1891 H. L. Webb in Electr. in Daily Life, Making a Cable 178 The cable is arranged in flat coils..each coil is technically known as a ‘flake’. |
▪ VII. flake, n.7
(fleɪk)
[Perh. f. flake n.2]
A name under which dogfish is marketed for food.
| 1906 Daily Chron. 1 Mar. 5/5 A meeting of the Sea Fisheries Committee..had approved of the change of the name from dogfish to flake, and after the dinner the company unanimously affirmed that flake was a most excellent..form of food. 1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Apr. 242/4 There is also long-line fishing for dog-fish (renamed ‘flake’ for marketing). 1959 Chambers's Encycl. XII. 458/2 Spotted Dog-fish and Spiny Dog-fish..are sold as ‘flake’ or ‘rock salmon’. |
▪ VIII. † flake, a. Obs.
Also flact.
[app. a var. of ME. wlak:—OE. wlæc.]
Tepid.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 255 Fille his eere ful of flact watir. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 21 Wasshe hem [Rys] clene in flake Water. |
▪ IX. flake, v.1
(fleɪk)
Also 9 fleak.
[f. flake n.2]
1. intr. † a. Of snow: To fall in flakes. Obs. b. transf. To fall like flakes of snow.
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. xxxiv. (1513) X vj, Snowe that flaketh fro Iupyters toure. 1598 Florio, Affioccare, to flake as snowe doth. 1852 Moir Winter Wild iii. Poet. Wks. II. 219 Butterflies..Down flaking in an endless stream. 1890 W. C. Russell Ocean Trag. III. xxvi. 19 Red stars trembled in the silver lamps..flaking, as it seemed, upon the eye out of the mirrors. |
2. trans. a. To cover with or as with flakes (of snow, etc.); to fleck. b. nonce-use. To form (snow) into flakes.
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 30 The shuddering morne that flakes, With silver tinctur, the east vierge of heaven. 1725 Pope Odyss. iv. 773 No winds inclement..flake the fleecy snow. 1845 Hirst Poems 70 The arching azure overhead Was flaked with gems. 1858 Longfellow M. Standish i. 14 His russet beard was already Flaked with patches of snow, as hedges sometimes in November. |
3. a. † To break into small pieces (obs.). b. To break flakes or chips from; to chip. Also, spec. in Archaeol. (see quot.1879). c. To break or rub away or off in flakes; to take off in flakes or layers.
| 1627–77 Feltham Resolves ii. xlv. 247 Negligence..flakes away more of its [the Soul's] steel and hardness, than all the hackings of a violent hand can perform. 1632 Heywood Iron Age ii. i. Wks. 1874 III. 362 Fall on the murderer, And flake him smaller then the Lybean sand. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 110 Large pieces of the Shell..sticking on to them, which were easily to be broken or flaked off by degrees. 1667 Waterhouse Fire Lond. 69 Chapels, Churches, Monuments: all which it..flaked and enervated. 1855 Browning Men & Women, Old Pictures in Florence xxiv, Their ghosts..Watching each fresco flaked and rasped. 1864 Realm 2 Mar. 8 The Cyclopean blocks [of newspapers] are flaked off in reams and quires. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. viii. 198 Most stone knives of the kind seem to have been used, as they were flaked off. 1879 Nature 18 Sept. 483/2 Arrow-heads could in this way be flaked even into the most delicate..shapes. 1887 W. Rye Norfolk Broads p. iv, Watermen..are believed to flake off their dirt..by rubbing themselves against the sharp angles of square flint church towers. 1954 S. Piggott Neolithic Cultures x. 288 The axes were flaked or chipped on the spot in large quantities. 1955 Sci. Amer. May 110/2 Large pebbles were flaked to give a cutting edge. Flaking is a kind of chipping or peeling, analogous to the whittling of wood. |
4. intr. for refl. To come away or off in flakes; to scale or chip off.
| 1759 Colebrooke in Phil. Trans. LI. 45 It flaked off from the board. 1859 W. S. Coleman Woodlands (1866) 109 Covered with reddish bark that flakes off readily on being touched. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile ii. 29 Its stuccoed cupola was flaking off piecemeal. 1879 [see flaky 2]. 1885 Law Times 14 Feb. 285/1 The enamel surface had..flaked away in several places. |
5. trans. To mark with flakes or streaks.
| 1615 Heywood Foure Prentises Wks. 1874 II. 240 Wee'll flake our white steeds in your Christian blood. 1857 H. Miller Test. Rocks iv. 182 Jupiter..is known..by the dark, shifting bands..fleaking his surface in the line of his trade winds. |
6. (Anglo-Irish.) To beat, flog. In quot. absol.
| 1841 S. C. Hall Ireland II. 316 note, My back was sore with the flaking..Flake away, my jewil. |
7. intr. dial. (See quots.) [Perh. belongs to next vb.]
| c 1746 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. Gloss., To Fleak, to bask in the sun. 1876 Whitby Gloss., ‘Fleeak'd i'bed’, laid naked. Ibid., ‘Fleeaking in bad weather’, going out too thinly clad. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., ‘I seed a ruck o' lads an' dogs flakin' o' that sunny bonk.’ 1884 Chesh. Gloss., One who is lazy in the morning and will not get up is described as ‘lying flaking i' bed’. |
▪ X. flake, v.2
[var. of flack, flag.]
† 1. = flag v. in various intr. senses. To become languid or flabby. Of a garment: To fall in folds. Obs.
| 1480 Robt. Devyll 13, I will contynewe and never wyll flake Thoughe I therfore my lyfe lose shoulde. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde ii. vii. (1634) 137 If the right brest flake and flagge. 1592 W. Wyrley Armorie 100 Downe to the ground doth sweeping vestment flake. |
2. to flake (out): to faint, fall asleep (from exhaustion, drunkenness, etc.). So flaked (out) ppl. adj., exhausted; unconscious, asleep. colloq.
| 1942 L. Kennedy Sub-Lieutenant vi. 39 During the week's [P.T.] course, two of them broke their ankles; the others usually flaked out from exhaustion before the end of the afternoon. 1943 ‘H. Green’ Caught 21 There is a man flaked out at your feet. 1953 F. Robb Sea Hunters xiii. 200 ‘Olley, where's old Drum?’ ‘Flaked out.’ 1958 H. Johnston Phantom Limb viii. 71 ‘Can we go to bed soon?’ she asked. ‘I'm absolutely flaked out.’ 1960 B. Crump Good Keen Man 139, I flaked out more thoroughly than a man who is blind drunk. 1961 S. Price Just for Record vii. 60 When it was over I was flaked. 1971 Guardian Weekly 17 July 14/3 The nuns are still there, looking a bit flaked out now but bearing up. |
▪ XI. flake, v.3 Naut.
(fleɪk)
[see flake n.6 and fake v.1]
trans. To lay (a rope, etc.) on the deck in loose coils, in order to prevent tangling; to lay (a sail) in folds on either side of the boom. Also const. down, out.
| 1889 in Cent. Dict. 1908 Man. Seamanship (Admiralty) I. viii. 265 A large wire hawser is flaked down on the quarterdeck. 1927 G. Bradford Gloss. Sea Terms 62/1 Fake or flake down, to prepare a rope for running. It is coiled with the end up, then coiled down on the end so that each fake (flake) overlaps the preceding one. 1945 ‘N. Shute’ Most Secret viii. 186 Rhodes flaked down a sail below decks..and went to sleep on that. 1969 J. W. Mavor Voy. Atlantis v. 104 A cable had to be flaked out on deck to avoid kinking when it was later payed out over a sheave on the stern. 1986 Practical Boat Owner July 86/3 Sails should be flaked and folded then stored in large bags. |