flake

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Etymology 1 1.2.1 Noun 1.2.1.1 Translations 1.2.2 Verb 1.2.2.1 Translations 1.3 Etymology 2 1.3.1 Noun 1.4 References

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /fleɪk/, SAMPA: /fleIk/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -eɪk

[edit] Etymology 1

Old English

[edit] Noun

flake (plural flakes)

1. A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything; a film; flock; lamina; layer; scale; as, a flake of snow, paint, or fish.
2. (archaeology) A prehistoric tool chipped out of stone.
3. (informal) A person who is impractical, flighty, unreliable, or inconsistent; especially with maintaining a living.

   She makes pleasant conversation, but she's kind of a flake when it comes time for action.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to flake (third-person singular simple present flakes, present participle flaking, simple past and past participle flaked)

1. To break or chip off in a flake.

   The paint flaked off after only a year.

2. (colloquial) To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through.

   He said he'd come and help, but he flaked.

3. (technical) To store an item such as rope in layers

   The line is flaked into the container for easy attachment and deployment.

4. (Irish, slang) to hit (another person).

[edit] Translations

[edit] Etymology 2

A name given to dogfish to improve its marketability as a food, perhaps from etymology 1.

[edit] Noun

flake (uncountable)

1. (British) dogfish
2. (Australian) The meat of the gummy shark.

[edit] References

• flake in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913