▪ I. flitch, n.1
(flɪtʃ)
Forms: α. 1 flicci, flicce, 5 flykke, 5–6 flik, flyk(e, (5 flickke, 6 flycke), 6–7 (8, 9 dial.) flick. β. 3–4 flic(c)he, (5 vlycch, 6 fli(e)ch), 5–6 flitche, flytche, (6 fleetch, 9 dial. fleech, fleach), 6– flitch.
[OE. flicce ? str. neut., corresp. to MLG. vlike, vlieke, ON. flikki (MDa. flykke):—OTeut. *flikkjo{supm}, f. root *flī̆k, found in ON. fl{iacu}k rag, and perh. in fleck n.]
1. a. The side of an animal, now only of a hog, salted and cured; a ‘side’ of bacon.
| α a 700 Epinal Gloss. 774 Perna, flicci. 805–31 Charters xxxvii. 18 in O.E. Texts 444 Tua flicca. 901–9 Charter Eadweard in Cod. Dipl. V. 164 Feor fliccu. c 1000 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 272/5 Perna, flicce. 1462 Test. Ebor. II. 261, iiij. bakon-fliks, ij. beffe-fliks. a 1529 Skelton Col. Cloute 846 A bacon flycke. 1643 Inv. Skipton Castle in Whitaker Craven (1805) 302, 35 great large beefe flicks. c 1746 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) Lanc. Dialect. Gloss., Flick, a flitch of bacon. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede iv, ‘Thee lookst as white as a flick o' new bacon.’ |
| β c 1230 Hali Meid. 37 Seoð þe cat at þe fliche. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 26 There fonde he..many goed flytches of bacon. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 152 b, Cutting out the Head, the Gammon and the fleetches, pouder them with salt. 1597–8 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. iv. 32 Dried fliches of some smoked beeue. 1710 Swift Baucis & Philemon 25 He from out the Chimney took A Flitch of Bacon off the Hook. 1859 Jephson Brittany v. 55 From..the ceiling hung a goodly row of..flitches of bacon. |
| transf. 1648 Herrick Hesper., Bacchus, He..walks with dangling breeches..And shewes his naked flitches. |
b. The ‘flitch’ presented yearly at Dunmow, in Essex, to any married couple who could prove that they had lived in conjugal harmony for a year and a day. (Also at Wichnor: see quot.a 1509.)
| 1362 [see flitchen]. a 1509 in Dugdale Baronage (1676) II. 106/2 The said Sir Philip shall fynde..one Bacon flyke, hanging in his Halle at Whichenore..to be given [etc.]. 1615 Hist. Robert Fitz-walter 25 One Richard Wright..came and required of the Bacon of Dunmow..And there was deliuered vnto the said Richard, one fleech of Bacon. 1820 Combe Dr. Syntax, Consol. i. (Chandos) 125 They might have claim'd or I'm mistaken With conscience clear the Flitch of Bacon. |
2. a. A square piece of blubber from a whale. b. A steak cut from a halibut.
| 1787 Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXXVII. 394 The adipose covering from all of the Whale kind that is brought home in square pieces, called flitches. 1884 [see flitch v.1]. |
3. a. A slice cut lengthways from the trunk of a tree, usually having the natural surface as one of its sides.
| 1823 Moor Suffolk Wds., Fleeches, the portions into which a tree or piece of timber is cut by the saw. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Flitch, the outside cut or slab of a tree. 1873 J. Richards Wood-working Factories 126 In America lumber is..not cut first into deals or flitches for transportation, and then sawed again to sizes, as in Europe. 1875 T. Laslett Timber xxvi. 190 Those [trees] with faulty centres furnish..pieces unequally sided, called flitches. |
b. Carpentry. (See quot.)
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 883/1 Flitch, a. One of several associated planks fastened side by side to form a compound beam, or built-beam. b. A bolt of planks, united by the stub-shot. |
c. In full flitch-plate. A strengthening plate added to a beam, girder, or any woodwork.
| 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., Flitch, a plate of metal or of wood bolted to an otherwise weak and unstayed beam or structure in order to strengthen and support it. Flitch Plate, a broad thin plate or rolled bar used in building up flitch beams or plated work. 1912 Motor Man. (ed. 14) iii. 89 To build the frame up of stout section ash and bolt on steel ‘flitch’ plates to the sides. 1950 Engineering 6 Jan. 3/3 The engine is reinforced by a channel-section flitch over most of its length. |
4. Comb., as flitch-beam, -ware (see quots.).
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. IV. 348/1 Flitch Beam, a beam made in layers of material pinned together. 1750 Ellis Mod. Husbandm. VII. ii. 60 Flitch-ware, that which is turned out of the intire round part of the [beech] tree. |
▪ II. flitch, n.2 rare.
(flɪtʃ)
[Onomatopœic; cf. flick, switch, twitch.]
A flick or stroke.
| 1893 G. D. Leslie Lett. to Marco xvi. 106 They give continually a little sort of jerky flitch with their wings. |
▪ III. flitch, v.1
(flɪtʃ)
Also fletch.
[f. flitch n.1]
trans. a. To cut (a log) into flitches, also, to cut as a flitch is cut. b. To cut (halibut) into flitches or steaks. Hence ˈflitching vbl. n., in quot. attrib.
| 1875 T. Laslett Timber xxvi. 193 Great care is..necessary in..flitching the log. Ibid. xxvi. 202 Planks..flitched from some of the hollow trees. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 197 Finning and flitching knives. 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. IV. 348 Flitching Knife, for slicing halibut into steaks or flitches. |
▪ IV. flitch, v.2 dial.
(flɪtʃ)
[? var. of flit a. ON. flytja.]
a. refl. = flit v. 4. b. intr. for refl. = flit v. 5.
| 1555 Abp. Parker Ps. lv. 157, I would me flitche, From hence to wildernes. 1787 W. Marshall Norfolk (1795) II. Gloss., Flitch, to move from place to place; as from farm to farm. 1857 Wright Dict. Provinc., Flitch, to move from place to place. |