flotation 
brill'-' upset by the i-xerlion of a small force, but. wln-n 
Slightly disturbed, invariably returns to its former posi. 
flotative (flo'ta-tiv), n. [<flott(ioH] + -ive.] 
Of or pertaining to flotation ; having the qual- 
ity of floating. E. H. Knight. 
floteH, r. and . A Middle English form offloi/l. 
flote-t, r. t. [Cf. flotten-milk.] A variant of 
flee&, 1. 
Sui-h cheeses, good Cisley, ye fluted to nigh. 
, . A Lesson for Dairy Maid Cisley. 
flotert, floteryt. Obsolete forms of flutter, flut- 
ti'i'i/. 
floternel (flo-ter-nel'), H. [OF.] A variety of 
the gambesou worn toward the close of the 
fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth 
century. Also spelled flotternel. 
flotilla' (Mo-til 'a), . [= F. flotMe (> D. flotille, 
ftiitilje = G. Dan. flotille = Sw. flottilj) = It. 
flott'iglin, < Sp. flotilla (= Pg. flotilha), a little 
fleet, dim. of flota, a fleet: see float, n., flota.] 
A little fleet; a fleet of small vessels. 
His [Lafayette's] entire flot ilia, ammunition of war, and 
even the city of Annapolis, were saved from destruction 
by an improvised gun-boat. J. A. Steven*, Gallatin, p. 299. 
Before breakfast was over, |we] found ourselves sur- 
rounded by a perfect Hutilla of boats. 
IM<III Bransei/, Voyage of Sunbeam, I. ii. 
flotist, [ME. flotyse, flotyce, the same as flot, 
with F. term.: see flot, 2.] Scum. 
Flotme or foh/ce of a pott or other lyke, spuma. 
Prompt. Para., p. 168. 
If thou burnest blood and fat together to please God, 
what other thing dost thou make of God than one that 
had lust to smell to burnt Jiotes Tyndale, Works, II. 215. 
flots (flots), n. pi. [F., pi. of flot, a wave, < L. 
flticttix, a wave : see float, .] Loops of ribbon 
or lace arranged in rows, each row overlapping 
that below, so as to give to the material the 
appearance of little ripples or waves : a device 
often used in dressmaking, etc. 
flotsam (flot'sam), n. [Also formerly flotzam, 
flotsam, flotsome (and dial, floatsome, q. v.), 
corrupt forms of the more orig.. flotson, flotsen, 
contr. of *flottison (ef . jetsam, < jettison) ; < OF. 
"flotation, flotsam, not found in this special 
sense, but the same as OF. flotation, F. dial. 
flotaison,the flooding or irrigation of meadows, 
F. flottaison, the line of flotation, water-line, 
< floter, flatter, float, < L. fluctuare, float : see 
float, v., flotation. Flotsam, which has hitherto 
been unexplained as to its termination, is thus 
a corrupt form, a doublet of flotation (ult. of 
fluctuation), as the associated jetsam, jettison, 
is of jactation.] Such part of the wreck of a 
ship and its cargo as is found floating. See 
jetsam. 
The interior of the house bore sufficient witness to the 
ravages of the ocean, and to the exercise of those rights 
which the lawyers term Flotsome and Jetsome. 
Scott, The Pirate, xii. 
Flotsam, jetsam, and lagan are not the lawful spoils of 
the finders, but must be delivered up to those who can 
prove their right to them, the owners paying a reasonable 
reward, . . . which is called salvage. 
Bithell, Counting-house Diet. 
flotsomt, flotsont, See flotsam. 
flottable (flot'a-bl), a. [F., < flatter, float: see 
float, .] In "French law, capable of floating 
boats or rafts: said of a watercourse. 
flottent (flot 'en), p. a. [See flotten-milk.] 
Skimmed. 
flotten-milkt (flot'en-milk), n. [= OD. vlote- 
melck, skimmed milk, also curded milk, =MLG. 
vlote-melk, ~LG.flote-melk,flate or afflatenmelk, 
skimmed milk ; cf. Sc. flottins, also fleetings, 
the same as flot-whey, floating curds in whey; 
the first element inflotten-milk is another form 
of flet, pp. of fleet* : see fleets.] Skimmed milk. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
flottert, A Middle English variant of. flut- 
ter. 
flotternel, n. See floternel. 
flot-wheyt (flot'hwa), . Floating curds in 
whey. 
fiotzamt, n. See flotsam. 
flough 1 , . Same &sflue s . 
flough-, a. See flow*. 
flounce 1 (flouns), v. i. ; pret. and pp. flounced, 
ppr. flouncing. [ME. not found; cf. obs. flucc 
(Nares), flounce ; < Sw. dial, flnnm, dip, plunge, 
fall into water with a plunge, OSw. fluiisa, 
plunge, = Norw. flunsa, hurry, work hurriedly; 
cf. flumxa, fly fast, fly hard.] To make abrupt 
or agitated movements with the limbs and 
body ; turn or twist as with sudden petulance 
or impatience ; move with flings or turns, as if 
in displeasure or annoyance : as, to flounce out 
of a room. 
You neither fret, nor fume, nur flounce. Svrifi. 
Kay, 'tis in vain to ftuinre- and discompose yourself 
and your Dress. SI,;'/?, <!ricf A-la-Mode, il. 1. 
After delivering herself of her speech. she I;I'/KV<( back 
again to her seat, mighty proud of the exploit 
Oremlle, Memoirs, l-vb. 
flounce 1 (flouns), n. [<//<><rl, '.] A sudden 
fling or turn, as of the body. 
At the head of the next pool Hjluinux, and the appari- 
tion of a head and tail brinits your heart into your mouth. 
Quarterly /.vi\, CXXVI. 840. 
flounce 2 (flouns), n. [A changed form of earlier 
t'roiiiii-i; q. v.] A deep ruffle; a strip of any 
material used to decorate a garment, especially 
a skirt near the bottom, gathered or plaited at 
one edge, and loose and floating at the other, 
the gathered edge being sewed to the garment. 
Say, oft in dreams invention we bestow 
To change a flounce or add a furbelow. 
Pope, R. of the L, ii. 100. 
Peeps into every chest and box, 
Turns all her furbcloes and jtouaeet. 
Prior, The Dove. 
flounce 2 (flouns), v. t. ; pret. and pp. flounced, 
ppr. flouncing. [< flounce*, n.] 1. To deck with 
flounces: as, to flounce a petticoat or a gown. 
She was flounced and furbelowed from head to foot. 
Addiion, Country Fashions. 
Women, insolent, and self-caress'd, . . . 
Curl'd, scented, furbelow'd, mn\flm<nc'd around. 
Coii'iier, Expostulation, 1. 51. 
2. To surround with something arranged like 
a flounce. [Rare.] 
. . 
He has . . . stifled ponds, and flounced himself with 
flowering shrubs and Kent fences. 
Walpole, Letters, II. 170. 
flouncing (floun'sing), re. l< flounce^ + -raff 1 .] 
Material for making flounces ; flounces collec- 
tively: as, Chantilly./ZoHMH0s. 
flounder 1 (floun'der), v. i. [Perhaps a nasalized 
form, influenced by flounce* or flounder 2 , of D. 
flodderen, (1) splash through the mire (flod- 
der, mire, dirt), (2) dangle, flap, wave ; in the 
latter senses another form (= MHG. vladern, 
G. fladdern, flattern = Sw. flaMra) of OD. 
rlederen (= MHG. rlcdern), flutter : see flutter 
and flatter^.] 1. To make clumsy efforts with 
the limbs and body when hampered in some 
manner; struggle awkwardly or impotently; 
toss ; tumble about, as in mire or snow. 
After his horse had flounced and floundered with his 
hecles. Holland, tr. of Ammianus Marcellinus, p. 77. 
Head and heels upon the floor 
They flounder' d all together. 
Tennyson, The Goose. 
Stuck in a quagmire, floundered worse and worse, 
1'ntil he managed somehow scramble back 
Into the safe sure rutted road once more. 
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 97. 
2. Figuratively, to grope uncertainly or con- 
fusedly, as for ideas or facts j speak or act with 
imperfect knowledge or discernment; make 
awkward or abortive efforts for extrication from 
eiTors of speech or conduct. 
Swearing and supperless the hero sate, . . . 
Plung'd for his sense, but found no bottom there, 
Yet wrote and flounder'd on, in mere despair. 
Pope, Duuciad, i. 120. 
Floundering along without clear purpose, without any 
real head, how can we be victorious ? 
Letter of Got'. John A. Andrew (Mass.), Jan. 14, 1863. 
He plunged into the sea of metaphysics, and floundered 
awhile ill waters too deep for intellectual security. 
H. James, Jr., Pass. Pilgrim, p. 274. 
flounder 1 (floun'der), M. [< flounder!, ,,.] The 
act of struggling or splashing about, as in mire 
or other hampering medium: as, with a despe- 
rate flounder he freed himself. 
flounder 2 (floun'der), n. [< ME. flounder, 
flovmdur = G. flunder, fliinder, < Sw. Norw. 
flundra = Dan. flynder = Icel. flydlira,a, floun- 
der.] 1. A flatfish; a fish of the family Pleu- 
roncctido;. The name applies to some or any such fish, 
(a) In England it is applied especially to the plaice, Pleu- 
ronectea or Plolexsa flesus. This is one of the most com- 
mon of the European flatfishes, and is found in the sea 
and near the mouths of large rivers ; but it abounds most 
where the bottom is soft, whether of clay, sand, or mud. 
Flounders feed upon aquatic insects, worms, and small 
fishes, and sometimes acquire the weight of 4 pounds. The 
common flounder is an inhabitant of the Northern, Baltic, 
flouren 
and Mr.litrlTi.n.-nisoas. (Ii) In tin- iwti'l n I "it"l - 
Ilir ,-omn H.'umhT is tin.- /'"< l',jil. - 
iisi>rthi' /ririi/iWifAiixiiMi'lW"*, luTriiunri d. ('> 111 I'ull- 
fornia. and alonv tin- wi'sti-rn wait generally, the Pleu- 
ronectes stellatiix is known as the Bounder. In other parts 
of the world colonized by tin- r.nulish thr MUM ll trans- 
ferred to some common representative of the family I'leu- 
ronecticUe. 
i;t now men on deyntees no hem drlytr, 
To tv.lr hem vjKjn the fysches lyte, 
\s itiiii'iiiln-*, perches, and such pykyng ware. 
r. S.), p. 224. 
2. A tool whose edge is used to stretch the 
leather for a boot-front on a blocking-board. 
The fronts [of boots] are regularly plai-nl mi a block, br- 
ing forced into position by an instrument called the fluiiu- 
dcr. tfre, Diet., III. 100. 
flounder-lantern (floun'der-lan"tern), . A 
local English (Cornwall) name of the common 
flounder or plaice. 
flour (flour), n. [An earlier spelling of flower, 
which in the particular sense of ' fine meal ' (cf . 
Icel. flur. a flower, also flour, fine meal; F. 
fleur defariiie = Sp.flordela luiriiia = Pg. flor 
de farinha, flour, lit. flower of meal, i. e., the 
finest part; cf. flowers of sulphur, flos fern, 
etc.) is now confined to the spelling flour: see 
flower.] If. An obsolete spelling of flower (in 
the botanical and derived senses). 2. The 
finely ground meal of wheat or of any other 
grain ; especially, the finer part of meal sepa- 
rated by bolting ; hence, any vegetable or other 
substance reduced to a fine and soft powder : 
as, flour of emery ; hop-/on)-. 
Zuych difference ase ther is ... be-tuene bren and 
flour of huete. Ayenbite of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 210. 
Whete and/oitr, flesch and lardere, 
Al togedyr they sette on fere. 
Richard Coer de Lion, 1. 6103. 
All 
From me do backe recelue the Flou-re of all, 
And leaue me but the Bran. 
Shak., Cor., i. l(folio, 1623). 
3. A snow-like mass of finely crystallized salt- 
peter used in the manufacture of gunpowder. 
It is formed by cooling a solution of saltpeter from 180 to 
70 F. in large shallow copper pans, and continually agi- 
tating it by hand or by machinery during the process of 
crystallization. The flue crystals settle to the bottom, are 
removed and allowed to drain on inclined forms, when 
they are ready for washing. Flour Of meat, a tine flour 
made of dried meat. Flour of powder, gunpowder not 
granulated, but pulverized. Fossil flour. See /o*si(. 
Second flour flour of a coarser quality ; seconds. 
flour (flour), v. [See floioer, r. In the later 
senses, < flow, n., 2.] I. intrans. It. An obso- 
lete spelling of floirer. 2. In mining, in the 
amalgamation process, the mercury is said to 
flour when it breaks up into fine globules, 
which, owing to the pres- 
ence of some impurity, do 
not unite with the pre- 
vious metal with which / J^LA 
they are brought in con- 
tact. This defect is known as 
/louring, and also as rickcning, 
both in Australia and on the 
Pacific coast of the United 
States. 
Four-spotted Flounder (Paralichthys oblonfus}. (From Report of 
U. S. Fish Commission, 1884.) 
II. trans. 1. To grind 
and bolt; convert into 
flour: as, to flour wheat. 
2. To sprinkle with 
flour. 
flour-beetle (flour'be"tl), 
n. A beetle, Tcitebrio 
molitOf, which lives in all Flour-beetle ( Tentbru mo- 
its stages on flour or fari- > < Un<! ho " natural 
naceous substances. The 
larva is an inch long, cylindrical, smooth and 
glossy, and is known as the meal-worm. See 
also cut under meal-worm. 
flour-bolt (flour'bolt), n. A machine for bolt- 
ing flour ; a bolter. It consists of a cylindrical sieve 
covered with bolting-cloth or flue gauze, and containing 
beaten that beat and press the meal as it conies from the 
stone against the sides of the bolt, and force the fine flour 
through the gauze, thus separating it from the refuse or 
flour-box (flour'boks), n. A tin box for dredg- 
ing or scattering flour; a dredging-box. 
flour-dredge (flour'drej), . Same as flour-box. 
flour-dredger (flour'drej"er), n. Same us flour- 
box. 
flour-dresser (flour'dres"er), n. A cylinder for 
dressing flour, instead of passing it through 
bolting-cloths. 
flour-emery (flour'em*e-ri), n. In gem-cutting, 
ground corundum, which when pure is almost 
an impalpable powder, used to polish gems, 
glass, etc. It is sometimes adulterated with 
garnet and topaz. 
flouren (flour'en), a. [< flour + -ot 2 .] Made of 
flour: as, flouren cakes. Mackay. [Prov. Eng.] 
