fling 
We saw the Highlanders dancing the fling to the miisir 
of the bagpipe in the open street. Neill, Tour, p. 1. 
So he stept right up before my gate, 
And danced me a suuey jlin : i. 
II "ml, Tbe Last Man. 
4. A gibe ; a sneer ; a sarcasm ; a severe or con- 
temptuous remark. 
He had a Fling at your Ladyship too. 
Congrece, Way of the World, iii. 5. 
Shakespear has very sly flings at this unnatural manner 
of thinking and writing. 
(;<iUixn<<tli, Sequel to A 1'oeticul Seule. 
5f. A slight, trifling matter: in the following 
proverb : 
Enghind were but a Jlfn'i, 
Save for the crooked stick and the gray goose wing. 
Fuller, Worthies, Berkshire. 
Full fling, at the utmost speed; recklessly. 
A man that hath taken his career, and mm full fling 
to a place, cannot recoil himself, or recall his strength on 
the sudden. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 237. 
fling-dustt (fling'dust), n. [< fling, v., + obj. 
ilit.it."} One who kicks up the dust; a street- 
walker : a term of contempt applied to a woman 
of low character. Beau.'and Fl. 
flinger (fling 'er), n. 1. One who flings; a 
thrower, jeerer, etc. 
And as a Curre, that cannot hurt tha flinger, 
Flies at the stone and biteth that for anger, 
Goliah bites the ground. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii. , The Trophies. 
2. One who dances a fling. [Scotch.] 
That's as muckle as to say that I suld hae minded you 
was a flinger and a tiddler yoursell. Scott, Pirate, ix. 
flinging-tree (fling 'ing-tre), n. [Sc. flingin- 
tree; < flinging, ppr. of fling, v., + tree.] 1. A 
piece of timber hung as a partition between 
horses in a stall. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] 
2. A flail ; properly, the lower part of a flail. 
[Scotch.] 
The thresher's weary flinyin-tree 
The lee-laug day had tired me. 
Burns, The Vision, i. 
flinking-COmb (fling'kmg-kom), n. A comb for 
the toilet-table. [Prov. Eng.] 
flint (flint), . and a. [< ME. flint, < AS. flint, 
flint, and in general a rock, = Sw. flinta = Dan. 
flint = MLG. rlins = OHG. flins, MHG. vlins, 
G. dial, flins, flint; perhaps = Gr. vfjvdof, a 
brick: see plinth. Perhaps ult. connected with 
flinder^ (Norw. flinter, a fragment, etc.): see 
JKnder 1 . Hence OF. flin, a stone used, like 
emery, in polishing knives; and prob. Dan. 
flint = Sw. flint (in comp.), G. flinte (whence 
Bohem. and Pol. flinta, Lett. plinte), a gun: see 
flint-lock.] I. . 1. A form of silica, somewhat 
allied to chalcedony, but more opaque, and with 
less luster. It is usually of a light-gray or brownish 
color. It has a peculiarly well-marked conchoidal frac- 
ture, and can easily be broken up into fragments having 
sharp cutting edges. For this reason, and because of its 
hardness, which is proverbial, flint was most extensively 
used in prehistoric times for all kinds of cutting imple- 
ments. The use of flint as a means of striking flre with a 
steel, and especially as a part of the once almost universally 
used musket-lock, is well known. Flint occurs in large 
quantity in the form of nodules, and even sheets or beds, 
in the chalk of England and France, and has been formed 
by the slow replacement of carbonate of lime by silica 
held in solution in water. It is abundant in the United 
States, generally in massive forms. The exterior of most 
flints is of a lighter color than the interior, this difference 
being caused by a rearrangement of the particles of the 
silica. 
Then he tooke up the Eldridge sworde, 
As hard as any flint. 
Sir Cauline (Child's Ballads, III. 180). 
The old chief . . . slowly shapes, with axe of stone, 
The arrow-head tram flint and hone. 
Whittier, Mogg Megone, ii. 
2. A piece of flinty stone used for any pur- 
pose, as for striking fire in a flint-lock musket 
or otherwise, or in the form of an implement. 
See cut under flint-lock. 
Ac [but] hew fyre at a flynte fowre hundreth wyntre, 
Bot thow haue towe to take it with tondre or broches, 
Al thi laboure is loste and al thi longe trauaille. 
Piers Plowman (B), xvii. 244. 
Prometheus flrst struck the flintt, and marvelled at the 
spark. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 212. 
So stubborn flints their inward heat conceal. 
Till art and force th' unwilling sparks reveal. 
Congreve, To Mr. Dryden. 
The place seems to be devoted to the making of flints. 
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 299. 
3. Figuratively, something very hard or obdu- 
rate : as, he was flint against persuasion. 
He hath a tear for pity, and a hand 
Open as day for melting charity ; 
Yet notwithstanding, being incens'd. he's flint. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 4. 
Dry flint, in leather-making. See the extract. 
Dry flint is a thoroughly dry hide that has not been 
salted. C. T. Dams, Leather, p. 54. 
2271 
Liquor Of flints, a solution of flint or silica in potash. 
To fix one's flint. See JU. To skin a flint, to act with 
extreme closeness or meanness in regard to money mat- 
ters. 
II. a. 1. Made or composed of flint. 2. 
Hard and firm, as if made of flint: as, flint 
corn or flint wheat Flint Implements, in archa-ol., 
im pit-men ts used by man before the use of metals, so called 
because, although occasionally found of granite, jade, ser- 
pentine, jasper, basalt, and other hard stones, those first 
studied, as well as the most numerous examples, are 
formed of flint. They consist of arrow-heads, ax-heads or 
celts, lance-heads, knives, wedges, etc. Flint implements 
have been found in many regions .of the globe ; often, as 
in the Sonime valley in France, in apparently upheaved 
beds of drift, and in connection with the remains of extinct 
species of the elephant, rhinoceros, and other mammals, 
whence man's existence on the globe at a geological period 
anterior to the present has been inferred. Flint imple- 
ments are still used by some savage tribes. 
flintamentosa (flin"ta-men-t6'sa), . A name 
given in Australia to the tree Flindersia 
Greavesii. 
flintedt (flin'ted), a. [< flint + -R] Hard- 
ened; cruel. Davies. 
Also we the byrthplace detest otflinted Vlisses. 
Stmahurst, /Eneid, iii. 279. 
flint-glass (flint'glas), n. A variety of glass 
in which the silica is combined with oxid of 
lead in greater or less quantity. The larger the 
amount of lead the higher the specific gravity and the 
refractive power, and the greater the brilliancy of the 
product. Flint-glass is often called crystal glass, or simply 
crystal, while some limit the name flint-glass to the va- 
riety specially made for optical purposes. Besides the 
oxid of lead, potash is an essential ingredient of flint-glass 
or crystaL Analyses of different kinds of crystal show 
the presence of from 28 to 37 per cent, of oxid of lead, 14 
to 17 of potash, and 52 to 59 of silica. The flint-glass of 
Guinand, used for optical purposes and generally admit- 
ted to be of unrivalled excellence, contains about 43 per 
cent, of oxid of lead and 12 of potash. The brilliancy of 
crystal glass fits it for use for ornamental purposes, and 
especially for the most showy and expensive table-ware. 
The characteristic luster and sparkle due to the high re- 
fractive power of the material is brought out by cutting 
and polishing, exactly as is done in the case of gems. 
Owing, however, to its softness, crystal glass is easily 
scratched by careless handling and dulled by wear. The 
name flint-glass originated ill the fact that the silica first 
used in England for the manufacture of this article was 
derived from flints. An essential requisite for good flint- 
glass is purity of the materials employed, and the forms 
of the furnace and of the melting-pots are peculiar. Great 
technical skill is required for the production of the best 
kind of glass for optical purposes. See glass, strass, and 
lens. 
flint-heartt(flint'hart),a. Same as flint-hearted. 
Under the conduct of Great Soliman, 
Have I ben chief commander of an host, 
And put the flint-heart Persians to the sword. 
Kyd (?), Soliman and Perseda. 
flint-hearted (flint'har'ted), a. Hard-hearted ; 
cruel. 
"Oh, pity,"gan she cry, "flint-hearted boy." 
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 95. 
flintiness (flin'ti-nes), n. The quality of being 
flinty; hardness; cruelty. 
The more I admire your flintiness : 
What cause have I given you, illustrious madam, 
To play this strange part with me ? 
Fletcher (and another f), Nice Valour, i. 1. 
flint-knacker (flmfnak''^), n. Same &s flint- 
knapper. 
flint-knapper (flint' nap 'er), n. A workman 
who breaks or chips flints to desired forms. 
During a recent journey through Epirus I was so fortu- 
nate as to observe in a street of Janina an old Albanian 
flint-knapper practising his truly elegant art. 
A. J. Scans, Jour. Anthrop. lust., XVI. 65. 
flint-knapping (flint'nap'ing), n. and a. I. n. 
The act or method of breaking or chipping 
flints to desired forms. In modern practice the 
lumps or nodules of flint are broken into pieces of mod- 
erate size by means of light blows with a square hammer, 
and these pieces are then split and shaped by scaling or 
flaking them off by means of blows of nicely adjusted force 
and direction with a pointed hammer. 
II. a. Pertaining to the art of flaking and 
shaping flints. 
At present the chief site of flint-knapping industry is 
Valona and its neighborhood. 
A. J. Evans, Jour. Anthrop. Inst, XVI. 66. 
flint-lock (flint'lok), n. 1. A gun-lock in which 
fire is produced by a flint striking the hammer, 
flip 
and igniting the priming in a receptacle called 
the pan. The match-lock was superseded by 
the flint-lock, which is now superseded by the 
percussion-lock. 2. A gun, especially a mus- 
ket, having a flint-lock. 
Manton Flint-lock Fowling-piece. 
IT, hammer ; b, flash-pan, or pan ; c. touch-hole ; d, flint ; e, e. cocks. 
A pair of the best pattern flint -liM-kx, well made anil fin- 
ished, were well worth the 7 paid for their manufacture. 
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 83. 
flint-mill (flint'mil), n. 1. la pottery-man nf., 
a mill in which burned and crushed flints are 
ground to powder for mixing with clay to form 
slip for porcelain. The mill has a pan witli 
a bottom of quartz or feldspar blocks, and run- 
ners of silicious stone. 2. In mining, an old 
safety device for producing light, consisting 
of a wheel of which the periphery was studded 
with flints, which, when the wheel revolved, 
struck against a steel and emitted a quick suc- 
cession of sparks. Such sparks do not ignite 
fire-damp. E. H. Knight. 
The clumsy and unsafe "safety" lamp, which will soon 
be numbered, with the flint-mill, among the relics of the 
past. Hospitaller, Electricity (trans.), p. 248. 
flint-paring (flint/paVing), n. The practice of 
a skinflint ; parsimony. 
Much mischief was done by the mercantile spirit which 
dictated the hard chaffering on both sides the Channel at 
this important juncture ; for during this tedious flint-par- 
ing, Antwerp, which might have been saved, was falling 
into the hands of Philip. 
Motley, United Netherlands, I. 323. 
flint-rope (flint'rop), n. A kind of glass-rope ; 
the stem of a glass-sponge, as Hyalonema sie- 
boldi. 
flints (flints), n. pi. [Prob. akin to flinder 1 
(Norw. flinter, flint, etc.): see flintier 1 .] Ref- 
use barley in making malt. [Prov. Eng.] 
flint-sponge (flint'spunj), n. The sponge Hy- 
alonema miraoilis, found at Yenoshima, on the 
coast of Japan. Also called sponge-glass. 
flintstone (flint'ston), . A hard silicious stone ; 
flint. 
Like wood he sprang the castell about, 
On the rock o' the black flint ttane. 
Jiostner Hafmand (Child's Ballads, I. 257). 
It is not sufficient to carry religion in our hearts, as flre 
is carried in flint-stones, but we are outwardly, visibly, ap- 
parently, to serve and honour the living God. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vii. 22. 
flintware (flint'war), w. In ceram. : (a) Pot- 
tery distinguished by the use of ground flints 
mixed with the clay, (b) Pottery having a slip 
into which ground flints enter for a considera- 
ble part of its volume. 
flintwood (flint'wud), n. The mountain-ash of 
New South Wales, Eucalyptus pilularis. 
flinty (flin'ti), a. [< flint + -w 1 .] 1. Of the 
nature of flint; abounding in flint, or having a 
flint-like quality : as, a, flinty rock; a flinty tr&c- 
ture ; flinty ground. 
Flinty rocks were cleft. Congreve, Tears of Amaryllis. 
Each purple peak, each flinti/ spire, 
Was bathed in floods of living flre. 
Scott, L. of the L., i. 11. 
2. Figuratively, hard as flint ; obdurate ; cruel ; 
unmerciful : as, a flinty heart. 
Gratitude 
Through flinty Tartar's bosom would peep forth, 
And answer thanks. Shak., All's Well, iv. 4. 
How shall I move 
Thy flinty heart my curse has made me love? 
William Harris, Earthly Paradise, III. 117. 
flip 1 (flip), v. ; pret. and pp. flipped, ppr. flip- 
ping. [An attenuated form of flap. q. v. Hence 
fillip, fip 1 , q. v.] I. trans. 1. To fillip; tap 
lightly; twitch. 
As when your little ones 
Doe 'twixt their fingers flip their cherry stones. 
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 3. 
Listlessly flipping the ash from his cigarette. 
Hugh Conway, A Family Affair, p. 87. 
2. To flick, as with a whip. 3. To toss with a 
snap of the thumb, or the like : as, to flip up a 
penny in playing "heads and tails." [Colloq.] 
II. intrans. To flap. 
To sing their soug " I want to hear the flipping of the 
angels' wings." They [three negresses) not only sang the 
chorus over and over again, but each time shook their 
hands . . . to represent their flipping. 
London Nonconformist, June 17, 1886. 
When the water had disappeared, eight mackerel were 
found flipping about the deck. Science, VII. 263. 
To flip up, to toss up a coin to determine what shall be 
done, etc. See I., 3. [Colloq.] 
The two great men could flip up to see which should 
have the second place. New York Tribune, Oct. 4, 1879. 
flip 1 (flip), n. [< flipi, .] A fillip ; a flick ; a 
snap. 
Madame Bovary, with the little pessimistic flip at the 
end of every paragraph, is the most personal of liooks. 
Fortnightly Jiev., N. S., XLIII. 249. 
