flaunt

English

WOTD – 28 June 2008

Alternative forms

• flant (obsolete)

Etymology

Of (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  origin, related to Norwegian flanta (“to show off, wander about”), Icelandic flana (“to rush about, act rashly or heedlessly”); or perhaps related to Swedish flankt ("loosely, flutteringly"; compare English flaunt-a-flaunt), from Swedish flanka (“waver, hang and wave about, ramble”), a nasalised variant of Swedish flakka (“to waver”), related to Middle English flacken (“to move to and fro, flutter, palpitate”), see flack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flɔːnt/
• IPA^(key): /flɑːnt/
• IPA^(key): /flɔnt/
• IPA^(key): /flɒnt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːnt, -ɑːnt

Verb

flaunt (third-person singular simple present flaunts, present participle flaunting, simple past and past participle flaunted)

1. (intransitive, archaic) To wave or flutter smartly in the wind.
   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Library of America, 1985, p.26:

     The house came into sight, above the cedar grove beyond whose black interstices an apple orchard flaunted in the sunny afternoon.

2. (transitive) To parade, display with ostentation.

   She's always flaunting her designer clothes.
3. (intransitive, archaic or literary) To show off, as with flashy clothing.
   • (Can we date this quote by Arbuthnot and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     You flaunt about the streets in your new gilt chariot.

   • (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     One flaunts in rags, one flutters in brocade.

   • 1856, Dinah Craik, John Halifax Chapter VI,

     [T]he younger belles had begun to flaunt in the French fashions of flimsy muslins, shortwaisted— narrow-skirted.

   • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew Chapter XXV,

     […] and Mrs. Wix seemed to flaunt there in her finery.

4. (proscribed) To flout.

   Wheeler said companies already are flaunting the rules by offering free or sponsored data services for some products. [1]

Usage notes

• Do not confuse with flout.

Translations

to wave or flutter smartly

• Finnish: hulmuta
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: kühn wehen, stolz wehen

to display with ostentation

• Bulgarian: парадирам (bg) (paradiram)
• Catalan: ostentar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 詡／诩 (zh) (xǔ), 诩 (zh) (xǔ)

• Dutch: pronken (nl)
• Estonian: edvistama, eputama, kenitlema
• Finnish: leveillä (fi), pröystäillä, prameilla, komeilla
• French: étaler (fr), exhiber (fr), parader (fr)
• German: (etwas) zur Schau stellen, herumstolzieren, stolzieren (de), paradieren, (etwas) zur Schau tragen, offen zeigen
• Hebrew: התרברב m (Hitravrev)
• Italian: ostentare (it), esibire (it), mettere in mostra
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: шепури (šépuri), фали (fáli)
• Maori: whakatamarahi, whakametometo, whakameremere, whakatamarahi
• Occitan: ostentar
• Polish: afiszować się (pl) impf, obnosić się impf
• Portuguese: ostentar (pt)
• Romanian: parada (ro)
• Russian: щеголя́ть (ru) impf (ščegoljátʹ)
• Spanish: lucir (es), presumir (es), ostentar (es), tremolar (es)
• Swedish: stoltsera (sv), paradera (sv), briljera (sv)
• Turkish: bir (şeyle) hava atmak, (bir şeyi) teşhir etmek
• Vietnamese: khoe (vi)

To show off

• Bulgarian: показвам се (pokazvam se)
• Finnish: komeilla, koreilla (fi), prameilla
• German: mit (etwas) prunken, protzen (de), prangen (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: whakametometo, whakamenomeno, whakameremere
• Russian: щеголя́ть (ru) impf (ščegoljátʹ), дефили́ровать (ru) impf (defilírovatʹ)
• Swedish: glänsa (sv), briljera (sv)

Noun

flaunt (plural flaunts)

1. (obsolete) Anything displayed for show.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)