flaky, a.
(ˈfleɪkɪ)
Also 6 flakie, 8 fleaky, 8–9 flakey.
[f. flake n.2 + -y1.]
1. a. Consisting of flakes, or of what resembles flakes; said esp. of snow.
| 1580 Sidney Ps. cxxxv. iii, In flaky mists, the reaking vapors rise. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 86 Flakie darkenesse breakes within the East. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 110 A white coat, or flaky substance on the top, just like the outsides of such Shells. 1714 Gay Trivia ii. 199 She bids the Snow descend in flaky Sheets. 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 435 A flakey sort of milk. 1819 Crabbe T. of Hall x. Wks. 1834 V. 23 Snow-white bloom falls flaky from the Thorn. 1823 E. Smith Let. in Bray Tamar & Tavy (1838) I. 209 A mass of flaky..white fog. 1839 Marryat Phantom Ship xi, The sky was covered with flaky clouds. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxi. 270 A snow, moist and flaky. |
b. Of a flame:
cf. flake n.2 2.
| 1776 W. Combe Diaboliad 7 With flaky flames the distant region glow'd. |
2. a. Separating easily into flakes; flake-like.
flaky-spar, a local name for
calcite.
| 1672 Boyle Ess. Gems 22 Diamonds themselves have a grain or a flaky Contexture, not unlike the fissility, as the schools call it, in wood. c 1720 W. Gibson Farrier's Dispens. ii. ii. (1734) 93 The genuine true Salt is transparent and fleaky. 1748 tr. Vegetius' Distempers Horses 107 Scissile or flaky Alum. 1758 Descr. Thames 171 A flat, luscious and flaky Fish like the Salmon. 1784 J. Twamley Dairying 98 It is warmth that..causes Cheese to cut Flakey. 1837 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. II. 5 The flesh [of the cod] when boiled becomes firm and flaky. 1841–71 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 728 The flaky lateral muscles of the caudal region disappear. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xii. 162 The flaky red surface of the old tower. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Flaky-spar..the local name given to this spar is very likely due to the manner in which its beautiful rhomboidal prisms sever or flake. |
b. spec. Of pastry: consisting when baked of thin delicate flakes or layers.
| 1837 Hawthorne Twice-told T. (1851) I. viii. 179 Pies, with such white and flaky paste. 1857 Dickens Dorrit II. xxxiv. 619 A pie as far from flaky as the present. 1865 Harper's Mag. Apr. 610/1 Crisp ‘short⁓cakes’ or ‘flaky’ pie-crust. 1904 Daily Chron. 14 Sept. 8/4 A pie that has not made up its mind whether it is to be short or flaky is not worth eating. 1943 A. L. Simon Conc. Encycl. Gastron. IV. 92/1 Indian flaky pastry. 1969 Harper's Bazaar Oct. 12/2 Quails wrapped in ham and cooked in flaky pastry. |
3. Full of locks or tufts of hair.
| 1803 Pic Nic No. 7 (1806) II. 32 His [an ass's] flaky ears prick'd up withal. 1877 Black Green Past. xxxviii. (1878) 304 His beard in twisted and flaky tangles. |
4. slang (
orig. U.S.).
a. [
Cf. to flake (out) s.v. flake v.
2] Of a person: liable to act in an odd or eccentric manner (as though exhausted or under the influence of drink or drugs); crazy, ‘screwball’; feeble-minded, stupid.
| 1964 N.Y. Times 26 Apr. v. 2/7 The term ‘flake’ needs explanation. It's an insider's word, used throughout baseball, usually as an adjective; someone is considered ‘flaky’. It does not mean anything so crude as ‘crazy’, but it's well beyond ‘screwball’ and far off to the side of ‘eccentric’. 1974 A. Lurie War between Tates vi. 128 ‘I figure I would have flipped out pretty soon.’ She makes the gesture of someone exhausted or insane, flipping a pancake, in demonstration. ‘I was really flaky.’ 1976 M. Machlin Pipeline xl. 434 She'd become so flakey and so hostile to the world around her that Larry had found it hard to communicate with her. 1979 Sunday Sun (Brisbane) 1 July 49/2 What changed my mind was that Players is the first film to show tennis stars in a realistic way. Not as flaky guys or playboys. 1983 ‘J. Le Carré’ Little Drummer Girl i. iv. 78 We hear she's currently allied with a very flakey anarchist guy, some kind of crazy. 1986 New Yorker 20 Jan. 19/2 People can choose their own words to describe Qaddafi's mental state—President Reagan called him ‘flaky’, and later denied that he considered Qaddafi mentally unbalanced. |
b. Of an object, idea, etc.: characteristically eccentric or crazy; outrageous, unusual; also, unreliable or erratic.
| 1972 Newsweek 10 Jan. 25/1 ‘The majority of citizen-filed bills are pretty flaky,’ observes State Senate president Kevin Harrington. 1977 C. McFadden Serial (1978) xvi. 39/2 Angela and her flaky ‘extended family concept’. 1978 Consumer Reports Mar. 174/2 ‘We know the EPA numbers [on gas mileage] are flaky,’ says a Ford Motor Co. public-relations man. 1986 Guardian 16 Jan. 13/8 British Telecom's Multi-User dungeon adventure..is playable, but still too flakey for BT to charge people for playing it. |
Hence
ˈflakily adv., in a flaky manner;
ˈflakiness, the quality or condition of being flaky.
| 1831 J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXIX. 306 A better day for a [snowball] Bicker never rose flakily from the yellow East. |
| 1748 Phil. Trans. XLV. 364 Brine-Salt hath ever⁓more two main Defects, Flakyness and Softness. 1853 Dickens in Househ. Words (Christmas No.) 1/1 Look at the pie-crust alone. There's no flakiness in it. It's solid—like damp lead. |