▪ I. floss1 dial.
(flɒs)
In Orkney and Shetland: A collective term for reeds, rushes, etc.
| 1623 in Barry Orkney Isl. (1805) App. 467 That no persone shall..pull floss..before the first of Lammas. 1793 Statist. Acc. Scotl. VII. 524 The tenants paid in kind..floss or reeds. 1866 Edmondston Shetl. & Orkn. Gloss., Floss, the common rush. |
▪ II. floss2
(flɒs)
Also 9 dial. floose.
[Of doubtful origin. Possibly an adoption of some form of OF. flosche down, pile of velvet; also as adj. in soye flosche (mod.F. soie floche) floss-silk (= It. seta floscia). Possibly, however, there may have been a native Eng. or Scandinavian word floss cognate with fleece. Cf. mod.Icel. flos nap of cloth, Da. flos plush (recorded from 17th c.), and Cleveland dial. floss-seave the cotton-grass; also flose v.]
1. The rough silk which envelopes the cocoon of the silk worm; also see quot. 1835.
| 1759 Pullein in Phil. Trans. LI. 56 The common silk⁓pod, with all its floss, weighs usually but three grains. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 3 Silk which occurs in entangled tufts, called floss, is spun like cotton. |
b. transf. (see quot.).
| 1846 Smart, Floss, a downy substance in some plants. 1847 Longfellow Evang. i. iii, Hair, like the silken floss of the maize, hung over his shoulder. |
2. Silk in fine filaments; = floss-silk.
| 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. i. iii. 22 Silken threads and silken flosses Here must play their parts. 1889 A. N. Carter in Century Mag. Nov. 37/2 Old velvet embroidered with gold and floss. |
3. A flossy surface; also, a quantity of flossy particles; fluff.
| 1784 Henley in Beckford's Vathek (1868) 160 note, The wrong side of tapestry will represent more truly the figures on the right, notwithstanding the floss that blurs them, than [etc.]. 1850 Bamford Tim Bobbin's Wks. Gloss., Floose, the flyings of wool or cotton. 1871 G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. i. iv. 121 When woven thick and with a floss, it is warm. 1891 Labour Commission Gloss., Floss, the small particles of fibre in the dust given off in the processes of the manufacture of textiles. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as floss line, floss thread, floss wig, floss yarn. Also floss-silk.
| 1894 Daily News 7 May 5/1 Men fish with a *floss line, and one, two, six, or more natural flies on a hook. |
| 1872 MacElrath Dict. Commerce (Webster 1879) *Floss-thread, a kind of soft flaxen yarn or thread, used for embroidery. |
| 1864 J. Brown Horæ Subsec., J. Leech (1882) 28 The coach⁓man's red face and *floss wig. |
Add: [2.] b. = dental floss s.v. dental a. 1 b.
| 1936 R. W. Bunting Oral Hygiene i. 79 It is necessary that the patient be taught to pass flat floss into each interproximate space. 1976 Dyke Fall 22/1 Hold the floss taut while using the thumbs to guide the floss through the top teeth. 1985 Which? Jan. 21/3 Floss is best for closely-fitting teeth. |
▪ III. floss3 Metallurgy.
(flɒs)
[a. Ger. flosz in same sense: see float n.]
1. a. (See quot.) b. (See quot.) c. = floss-hole (see below).
| a. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 509 Floss of the puddling furnace is the fluid glass floating upon the iron produced by the vitrification of the oxides and earths which are present. |
| b. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 711–2 White cast iron..is employed..for the manufacture of steel, and is then called steel floss, or lamellar floss. |
| c. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 702 The floss, or outlet of the slag from the furnace. |
2. Comb.: floss-hole, (a) ‘a hole at the back of a puddling-furnace, beneath the chimney, at which the slags of the iron pass out of the furnace; (b) the tap-hole of a melting furnace’ (Knight).
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 708 The excess of slag is allowed to run off by the chio or floss hole. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Floss-hole, a tap-hole. |
▪ IV. floss4 rare—1.
(flɒs)
[Of doubtful genuineness. Ger. flosz has this sense; perh. the title of The Mill on the Floss (where Floss is a proper name) led Carlyle to think that the word existed in the same form in Eng. Cf. flouse.]
A stream.
| 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. V. xix. iv. 472 There is one dirty stream or floss (Hünerfliess, Hen-Floss) which wanders dismally through those recesses. |
▪ V. floss, v.
(flɒs)
[f. floss n.2]
intr. and trans. To clean between (the teeth) with dental floss.
| 1974 Reader's Digest Feb. 221/1 A sure-fire way to detect plaque is to use a ‘disclosing agent’..before brushing and flossing. 1979 Washington Post 29 June (Weekend Section) 38/2 Someone will oil your back. Floss your teeth. 1980 Ibid. 20 Mar. c1/1, I fail to brush and floss and massage and pick and gargle. 1984 M. Amis Money 249 On impulse I floss my teeth in the middle of the afternoons. 1987 J. Wilcox Miss Undine's Living Room xi. 165, I was wondering what made me want to look at her teeth... And they're so close together. She has trouble flossing. |
Hence ˈflossing vbl. n.
| 1974 Collier's Encycl. Year Bk. 234/2 Probably the best program for preventing caries would be one emphasizing good brushing and flossing techniques. 1983 Which? Dec. 532/3 At the moment, brushing and flossing are the main methods you can use at home to control plaque. 1989 Psychol. Today Sept. 30/2 Daily tooth brushing and flossing are important to keep teeth healthy. |
▪ VI. floss, v.1 slang (chiefly U.S.). In later use chiefly in African-American usage.
Brit. /flɒs/, U.S. /flɔs/, /flɑs/
[Back-formation <flossy adj. Compare floss n.2]
intr. To flirt; to show off, esp. (in later use) by flaunting one's wealth, possessions, etc. Cf. flossy adj.
| 1938 ‘R. Hyde’ Godwits Fly xi. 171 Don't go flossing around girls. 1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §356/1 Flossing, flirting. 1995 Source Feb. 5/1 In this issue we preview 18 of this season's fattest new kicks for b-ballin', walkin' and just flossin' around the town in the flyest wares. 1997 T. Smith et al. Dangerous (song, perf. ‘Busta Rhymes’) in Hip-hop & Rap (2003) 72 Buckwild to all of my niggaz who don't care. Floss like a bunch of young, black millionaires. 2004 Jockey Slut Feb. 84/3 There's a refreshing absence of the ying-yang of modern hip hop, where rappers either floss or complain about others doing so. |