flowery 
Me thought I fomiil me by a nmrm'riiig brook, 
Reclin'd at ease upon thvjbttci ->i margin. 
ll'iiiv, I'lysses, iii. 
All the land ]njiiwrn squares, 
Beneath a broad anil equal-blowing wind, 
Smelt of the coining summer. 
T>-m,it*"n. QaMener'i Daughter. 
2. Adorned with figures or imitations of flow- 
ers: us, ii jlnicn-ji pattern. 3. Richly embel- 
lished with figurative language; overwrought 
in figurative expression ; florid : as, a flowery 
style. 
Soft were my numbers; who could take offence 
While pure description held the place of sense? 
Like gentle Fanny's was my Jtunvry theme. 
Pope, Prol. to Satires, 1. 149. 
Syn. 3. See //"</'/. 
flowery-kirfled (flou'er-i-ker"tld), a. Clad in 
flowers. [Rare.] 
I have oft heard 
My mother Circe with the sirens three, 
Amidst the&noery-kirtled Naiades, 
Culling their potent herbs, and baleful drills. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 254. 
flowing (flo'ing), n. [Verbal n. of flow 1 , v.] 1. 
The act of that which flows; a flux. 
At the ordinary flowing' of the suit water, it divideth it 
selfe into two gallant branches. 
Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 117. 
2f. Kising, as of a river ; overflowing ; flood. 
Great sir, your return into this nation in the 12th year 
of your reign resembles the flowing of the river Nilus in 
the 12th degree. 
I'lifliiuiieiitiirii Hi*!., Charles II., an. 1661. Speaker's 
[Speech to the King. 
flowing (flo'ing), p. a. [Ppr. of flow 1 , v.] 1. 
Moving, as a fluid ; running ; gliding. 
Language, above all teaching, . . . 
Was natural as is the flowing stream. 
Cowper, Table-Talk, 1. 592. 
2. Fluent; smooth, as style; smoothly undu- 
lating, as a line ; evenly continuous. 
But Virgil, who never attempted the lyrick verse, is 
everywhere elegant, sweet, &iu\ flowing in his hexameters. 
Dryden, Epic Poetry. 
. She . . . wrote the whole out fairly, without blot or 
blemish, upon the smoothest, whitest, finest paper, in a 
small, neat, flowing, and legible feminine hand. 
Hogg, in Dowden's Shelley, I. 183. 
A purely floral style [of design], flowing in its lines and 
very fantastic and ingenious in its patterns. 
Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 211. 
2285 
Tlier were 
Jtiii/rienes on flote and farstcs inanye. 
MS. Cott. Calig., A. ii., f. 111. (HiMi 
and aft sails of a vessel when the sheets are eased off : as, 
she is running under flowing sheets. Flowing well, a pe- 
troleum-well from which the oil flows or spou ts, sometimes 
in great volume, by reason of the pressure of the carburet- 
ed hydrogen gas which accompanies it. 
flowing-furnace (flo'ing-fer'nas), . A name 
for the cupola in which iron is melted in foun- 
dries. E. ff. Kniglit. 
flowingly (flo'ing-li), adr. In a flowing man- 
ner ; smoothly ; fluently. 
I never wrote any thing so floit'ingly as the latter half 
[of the article on Horace Walpole]. 
Macaulay, Life and Letters, I. 294. 
flowingness (flo'ing-nes), n. The quality of 
being flowing or fluent; fluency. Nichols. 
flowk (flouk), . Same as fluke 2 . 
flowkwort (flouk'wert), n. See fluTcewort. 
flow-moss (flou'mos), n. Same as flow-bog. 
He [Delabatie] being a stranger, and knew not the gate, 
ran his horse into a Flow-Moss, where he could not get 
out till his enemies came upon him. 
Pitscottie, Chron. of Scotland, p. 130. 
flown 1 (flon). [< ME. flogen, flowen, < AS. flo- 
gen, pp. offledgan, fly.] Past participle of fly 1 . 
flown 2 (flon), p. a. [< ME. flowen, < AS. flowen 
(scarcely found in use), pp. of flowan, flow : see 
JtonA.l If. Flooded; steeped; filled; made 
full. 
When night 
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons 
Of Belial flown with insolence and wine. 
Milton, P. L., L 602. 
[Some have supposed that/town in this passage is an error 
for blown. Warton reads swoln.] 
2. Decorated by means of color freely blended 
or -flowed, as a glaze. See floiv 1 , v. i., 8. 
flowret (flour'et), n. [A less common spelling 
(often printed flow'ret, as if a contraction) of 
floweret, which, however, was orig. a dissylla- 
ble, < ME. flourette: see floweret and floret.] 
Same as floweret. 
flowretryt (flour'et-ri), n. [< flowret + -ry.] 
Carved work or other decoration representing 
flowers. 
Nor was all this flmi'retrtf, and other celature on the 
cedar, lost labour. Fuller, Pisgah Sight, III. v. 4. 
flowtet, >i. and v. A variant of flute 1 . 
floygenet, floynet, >/ [ME.; origin unknown.] 
A kind of boat or ship. 
In Jloynes and fercestez, and Flemesche schyppes. 
Mnrl,' Arthur,' (K. K. T. S.), 1. 743. 
floytt, floytet, and v. See floifi. 
fluate (flo'at), w. [< flu(or) + -ate 1 .] In client., 
a name formerly given to salts formed by the 
combination of fluoric acid with a metallic oxid, 
an earth, or an alkali: as, fluate of lime, alu- 
mina, or soda. They are properly fluorides. 
flucan, flookan (flo'kan), n. [Corn, dial.] In 
nniiitHj, clayey material within the lode, and 
more especially along its walls : nearly synony- 
mous with gouge. Some fissures are entirely filled with 
flucan, and in Cornwall these are known as flucan courses. 
Also spelled flukan and fluokiny. 
The most part of the copper lodes are accompanied by 
small argillaceous veins, called by the miners flookam of 
the lode. Ure, Diet., I. 911. 
flucet, v. i. [A var., or perhaps an orig. mis- 
print, of flounce 1 .'] To flounce. 
They flirt, they yerk, they backward fliire, and fling 
As if the devil in their heels had been. 
Drayton, Moon Calf, p. 513. 
flucerin (flo'se-rin), . [< flu(oride) + cer(ium) 
+ -in 2 .] Same as fluocerite. 
fluck (fluk), re. A dialectal form of fluke 2 . 
fluctiferoust (fluk-tif'e-rus), a. [< L. fluctus, a 
wave, + ferre = E. bear 1 .] Producing or tend- 
ing to produce waves. Blount. 
fluctisonantt (fluk-tis'o-nant), a. [< L. fluetux, 
a wave, + sonan(t-)s, sounding; cf. fluctiso- 
nous.] Sounding as waves. Bailey, 1731. 
fluctisOUOUSt (fluk-tis'o-nus), a. [< LL. fluc- 
tisonus, < L. fluctus, a wave, + sonare, sound.] 
Sounding or roaring with waves or billows. 
Bailey, 1727. 
fluctuabiltty (fluk"tu-a-bil'i-ti), n. [<fluctua- 
ble: see -biitty.] Tlie quality of being fluctua- 
ble. [Bare.] 
fluctuable (fluk'tu-a-bl), a. [< L. fluctuare, 
float, + -ble.~\ Liable to fluctuation. Imp. Diet. 
[Rare.] 
fluctuancyt (fluk'tu-an-si), n. [< fluctuan(t) + 
-cy.] Tendency to fluctuation. 
They may have their storms and tossings sometime, 
partly by innate fluctuancy, as the rollings and tidings of 
the sea, and partly by outward winds and tempests. 
Bp. Oauden, Tears of the Church, p. 222. 
fluctuant (fluk'tu-ant), a. [= F. fluctuant = 
Sp. Pg. fluctuatite = It. fluttuante, < L. fluctu- 
an(t-)s, ppr. of fluctuare, flow: see fluctuate.] 
Moving like a wave ; fluctuating ; wavering. 
History of prophecy . . . describeth the times of the 
"militant church," whether it be fluctuant, as the ark of 
Noah, or moveable, as the ark in the wilderness. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 138. 
There needs no bending knee, no costly shrine, 
So fluctuate crowd to hail divinity. 
R. T. Cooke, Wood Worship. 
fluctuate (fluk'tu-at), v. ; pret. and pp. fluctu- 
ated, ppr. fluctuating. [< ~L. fluctuates, pp. of 
fluctuare (> It. fluttuare = Sp. Pg. fluctuar 
= OF. floter, flatter, F. flatter), waver, rise in 
waves, move to and fro, float, fluctuate, < fluc- 
tus, a flowing, a flow, a wave, billow, < fluere, 
pp. fluxus, orig. 'fluctus, flow: see fluent. Cf. 
float, v.] I. intrant,: 1. To have a wave-like 
motion; rise and fall in level or degree; undu- 
late; waver. 
So sounds, so fluctuates the troubled sea, 
As the expiring tempest plows its way. 
King, Rufflnus, or the Favourite. 
Fair France ! though now the traveller sees 
Thy three-striped banner fluctuate on the breeze. 
Wordsworth, Descriptive Sketches. 
2. To move or pass backward and forward as 
if on waves ; be wavering or unsteady; rise and 
fall; change about: as, public opinion often 
fluctuates; the funds or the prices of stocks 
fluctuate. 
The mind may for some time fluctuate between [two 
feelings], but it can never entertain both at once. 
Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 3. 
The population is therefore constantly fluctuating. 
D. Webster, Speech, Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1820. 
The standard of antiquity fluctuates, 
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 171. 
= Syn. Fluctuate, Vacilfate, Waver, Oscillate, Undulate, 
apply to literal or figurative movements to and fro, or up 
and down ; but undulate is used only physically, as of the 
sea, sound-waves, etc. Fluctuate, waver, and undulate 
in their figurative uses are founded upon the rise and fall 
of waves ; oscillate refers to the swinging of a pendulum. 
Vacillate, and next to it leaver, suggests the most of men- 
tal or moral indecision. Oscillate naturally suggests the 
most regular alternations of movement to and fro. Vacil- 
late and -waver are now rarely used of physical things : 
waver is also used of a hesitation that seems likely to end 
in yielding. 
flue 
He had by no means nii'lonlitint,' ennlMeMee in (lie flue- 
tiitin<i re-olutions of Lei'-ester, U!IMM mind seemed to 
him agitated beyond the government of calm reason. 
>''/'. Kenihvorth, xxxix. 
In the first place, though a pel iietnall.v elian^'ing, he, 
[Sir Kobert I'eel] was never a rin-illtitinn statesman. 
11'. A'. (;,,-.;, Mise. Kssavs. il ser., p. 234. 
Thou almost mak'st me ti-arer in rny faith. 
,s'/,/..,'M. of V., Iv. 1. 
As when a sunbeam fv/ ( v,-x warm 
Within the dark and dimpled beek. 
Taut !/*<>n. Miller's Daughter. 
nod offers to every mind its choice between truth and 
repose. . . . Between these, as a pendulum, man vacillate*. 
I'.'ttf r<in, Essays, 1st ser., p. 310. 
Hie bold rocks thrust their black and naked heads above 
the undulation outline of the mountain-ranges. 
Coojjer, Last of Mohicans, xiv. 
II. trtnix. 1. To put into a state of fluctuat- 
ing or wave-like motion. [Rare.] 
A breeze began to tremble o'er 
The large leaves of the sycamore 
And fluctuate all the still perfume. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, xcv. 
2. To cause to waver or be undecided. [Rare.] 
The younger sisters are bred rebels too, but the thought 
of guiding their mother, when such royal distinction was 
intended her, flattered and fluctuated them. 
-... D'Arblay, Diary, IV. 204. 
fluctuating (fluk'tu-a-ting), p. a. Wavering; 
moving as a wave; rising and falling; moving 
to and fro ; changeable. 
All those who had speculated on the rise and fall of this 
fluctuating currency [wampum] found their calling at an 
end. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 276. 
The sober people of America are weary of the fluctuat- 
ing policy which has directed the public councils. 
D. Webster, Speech, March 10, 1818. 
The highest poetry deals with thoughts and emotions 
which inhabit, like rarest sea-mosses, the doubtful limits 
of that shore between our abiding divine and our fluctu- 
ating human nature. 
Lou-ell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 251. 
Fluctuating function, a function which constantly 
changes its value by a finite quantity for an infinitely 
small change in the variable, alternately increasing and 
decreasing without ever being infinite. The name was 
given by Sir W. R. Hamilton. 
fluctuation (fluk-tu-a'shpn), n. [=OF.fluctu- 
atiun, fluctuacion, F. fluctuation = Sp. fluctua- 
cion = Pg. fluctuagSo = It. flitttuazione, < L. 
fluctuatio(n-), < fluctuare, fluctuate: see fluctu- 
ate. Cf. flotation, flotsam.] 1. A motion like 
that of waves ; a waving ; movement in differ- 
ent directions: as, the fluctuations of the sea. 
Each base, 
To left and right, of those tall columns drowu'd 
In silken fluctuation and the swarm 
Of female whisperers. Tennyson, Princess, vi. 
2. Alternating action or movement ; a waver- 
ing or varying course ; mutation : as, the fluc- 
tuations of prices or of the funds; fluctuations 
of opinion. 
The eccentricities, it is true, will still vary, but too 
slowly, and to so small an extent as to produce no incon- 
veniency from fluctuation of temperature and season. 
Paley, Nat. Theol., xxii. 
Latin was in the sixteenth century a fixed language, 
while the living languages were in a state of fluctuation. 
Macaulay, Lord Bacon. 
3. In meet., the alternating motion of pus or 
other fluids perceptible on palpation. 
The experimenter injected three-fourths of a centimetre 
of the mixture [culture of curved bacilli] under the skin of 
his left fore-arm, with the result of much cedematous 
swelling and some pain, with deep fluctuation in the re- 
gion of the puncture three days afterwards. Science, V. 482. 
Syn. 1 and 2. Oscillation, vacillation. 
fluctuoust (fluk'tu-us), a. [= F.flucttifui = Sp. 
Pg.fluctuoso = K.fluttuoso, < \j.fluctuo$us (very 
rare), full of waves, billowy, < fluctus, a flowing, 
a wave: see fluctuate, fluent.] Pertaining to 
waves ; flowing. 
Madona Amphitrite's fluctuous demeans. 
Kahe, Lenten Stuff e (Harl. Misc., VI. 151). 
flue 1 (flo), w. [= Sc. floiv. Origin obscure ; per- 
haps connected with MD. D. rloegli, grooves, 
channels, the flutes of a fluted column. There 
is no evidence to connect the word with OF. 
flue, fluie, a flowing, a stream (< L. fluvius, a 
stream). Skeat considers flue to be "a mere 
corruption of flute," citing in support of this 
view the use in Phaer's Virgil (see extract un- 
der def. 2) ; but such a corruption of an estab- 
lished word like flute at the period concerned 
is scarcely possible; Phaer's flue, if not a mis- 
print for flute, is prob., like flue in organ-build- 
ing (def. 3), merely a deflected use of flue in 
the ordinary sense, with some ref. to the acci- 
dentally similar flute.] 1. A duct for the con- 
veyance of air, smoke, heat, or gases. Specifi- 
cally (at) Formerly, a small winding chimney of a fur- 
nace carried up into the main chimney. (6) Now, the 
central passage for smoke in a chimney, or a side passage 
leading from a fireplace to this main passage. 
