▪ I. flaring, vbl. n.
(ˈflɛərɪŋ)
[f. flare v. + -ing1.]
concr. in pl. Gaudy or showy trimmings. rare.
| 1881 Blackmore Christowell xii, Two girls..with their Sunday stripes and flarings on. |
▪ II. flaring, ppl. a.
(ˈflɛərɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
† 1. Of the hair, etc.: Spreading out or waving conspicuously, flaunting. Of a mirror: Giving a bulging or enlarged outline; exaggerating. Obs.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's Teares, Wks. (Grosart) IV. 211 Thy flaring frounzed Periwigs. 1618 Bolton Florus (1636) 33 Marching forward..with..flaring head-tyres speckled like skins of serpents. 1635 Quarles Embl. ii. vi. (1718) 85 This flaring mirrour represents No right proportion, view, or feature. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. (1851) 23 In a flaring tire [they] bespeckl'd her with all the gaudy allurements of a Whore. |
2. Over-conspicuous, glaring, showy, gaudy; † extravagant, irregular. Now used as transf. from 4.
| 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. on Earth liv, To search for flaring shells. a 1659 Osborn Characters &c. (1673) 630 Such a Flaring and intemperate a Course, as that of a Souldier. 1717 Prior Alma ii. 518 A young flaring painted whore. 1746–7 Mrs. Delany Let. to Mrs. Dewes 446 Crimson and yellow flaring hangings of paper. 1769 Gray Let. Poems (1775) 365 No flaring gentleman's house, or garden-walls, break in upon the repose of this..paradise. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 346 The language is a mixture of metaphysical jargon and flaring prose. 1891 E. Peacock N. Brendon II. 313 This flaring Anonyma, as he called her. |
3. Of a vessel, etc.: That has its sides curving gradually outwards from the base. Also of a pan or dish (cf. flare v. 4 c).
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram xi. 52 If she were laid out aloft, and not flaring. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 118 It is said that a ship has a flaring bow when the topside falls outward from a perpendicular. 1857 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. II. 158, I..allow a little of the milk to pass along into a large flaring pan. a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 876/2 Flaring... Increasing in diameter upwards as of an upwardly expanding pan. Ibid. III. 2633/2 Trumpet... The flaring mouth of a railway-car draw-head. 1883 W. C. Russell Sea Queen III. iii. 57 A good-looking vessel, having what sailors call a flairing bow, which made her appear as round as an apple forward. 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 434/2 Flaring Pails—Tin..6 quarts [to]..14 quarts. |
4. Burning with a broad irregular flame; shining brightly and fitfully.
| 1632 Milton Penseroso 132 And when the sun begins to fling His flaring beams. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Ch. Windows iii, Speech alone Doth vanish like a flaring thing. 1661 Davenport City Night-Cap iii. i, I have tugg'd with tempests..Out-star'd the flaring lightning. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 400 Flaring tapers brightning as they waste. 1834 H. Martineau Farrers i. 18 He put out his flaring candle. |
| fig. 1884 Pae Eustace 67 He stared at the speaker for several moments with a flaring countenance. |
Hence ˈflaringly adv., in a flaring manner; gaudily. In mod. Dicts.