460 FLO 
Likeft it feemeth, in my fimpl’e wit, 
Unto the fair funlhine in Cummer’s day. 
That when a dreadful /form away is flit , 
Through the broad world dothfpread hisgoodly ray. Spenf. 
To remove; to migrate. In Scotland it is Hill ufed for 
removing from one place to another at quarterday, or the 
ufual term.—It became a received opinion, that the 
fouls of men, departing this life, did flit out of one body 
into fome other. Hooker. —To flutter ; to rove on the 
wing : 
He made a glancing fliot, and mifs’d the dove ; 
Yet mifs’d fo narrow, that lie cut the cord 
Which fatten'd, by the foot, the flitting bird. Dryden. 
To be flux or unftable : 
He flopt at once the paflage of his wind, 
And the free foul to flitting airrefign’d. Dryden. 
FLIT, adj. Swift ; nimble ; quick. Not in ufe. 
And in his hand two darts exceedingjfof, 
And deadly fltarp, he held ; whofe heads were dight, 
In poifon and in blood, of malice and defpight. Spenjer. 
Unfubflantial: 
That on the rocks he fell fo flit and light, 
That he thereby receiv’d no hurt at all. Spenfler. 
FLITCH, f. [plicce, Sax. flycke, Dan. flcche, floc/te, 
Fr. Skinner. ] The fide of a hog falted and dried : 
But heretofore ’twas thought a fumptuous feaft. 
On birthdays, feftivals, or days of date, 
A fait dry flitch of bacon to prepare ; 
If they had frefli meat, ’twas delicious fare. Dryden. 
FI.ITCH'WITE, f. [of pi re, contention, and pite, 
Sax. a fine.] A fine on account of brawls and quarrels. 
FLIT'TERMOUSE, f. The bat ; the winged moufe. 
—For its natural hiflory, fee the generic term Vesper- 
TII.IO. 
FLIT'TING, y. [yIre, Sax. fcandal.] An offence ; a 
fault ; a failure ; a defert.—Thou tel left my flittings , 
put my tears into thy bottle. Pflalms. 
FLIX, /. [corrupted from flax.'] Down; fur; foft 
hair: 
With his loll’d tongue he faintly licks his prey; 
His warm breath blows her flix up as (he lies : 
She trembling creeps upon the ground away, 
And looks back to him with befeeching eyes. Dryden. 
FTIX, a town of Spain, in Catalonia, on the river 
Ebro, which furrounds it ; feveral times belieged, with¬ 
out fuccefs, by the Spaniards, in the war with the Cata¬ 
lonians ; but it is now difmantled : twenty miles north of 
Tortofa. 
-FLIXECOU'RT, a town of France, in the department 
of the Somme, and chief place of a canton, in the dillridt 
of Armens : three leagues weft-north-weft of Amiens. 
FLIX'TON, [< j. d. Fcdixton, from one* Foelix, a Burgun¬ 
dian, who reclaimed and confirmed the Eaft Englifli, when 
they had revolted.] A town in Suffolk. 
FTIX-WEED,/". in botany. See Sisymbrium Sophia. 
FLIZE, a town of France, in the department of the 
■ Ardennes, and chief place of a canton, in the diftridt of 
Charleville, fituated on the Meufe : five miles fouth-eaft 
of Mezieres. 
To FLOAT, v. n. \_flotter, Fr.] To fwim on the furface 
.of the water.—That men, being drowned and funk, do 
float the ninth day, when their gall breaketh, are popular 
affirmations. Brown. —Three bluft’ring nights, borne by 
the louthern b! aft, I floated ; and difcovered land at laft. 
Dryden. —To move without labour in a fluid : 
What divine monflers, O ye gods, were thefe 
That float in air, and fly upon the feus! Dryden. 
Swift they defeend, with wing to wing conjoin’d, 
Stretch their broad plumes, and float upon the wind. Pope. 
Topafs with a light irregular courfe : perhaps miftaken 
for fleet otjLt. — Floating vifions make not deep impreffions 
FLO 
enough to leave in the mind clear, diftindt, lading, ideas. 
Locke. 
To FLOAT, v. a. To cover witli water.—Venice looks, 
at a diftance, like a great town half floated by a deluge.. 
Addifon. 
Proud Padtolus floats the fruitful lands, 
And leaves a rich manure of golden lands. Dryden. 
FLOAT,y The adt of flowing ; the flux; the contrary 
to the ebb. A fenfle now out of ufe. —There is fome difpofition 
of bodies to rotation, particularly from eaft to weft ; of 
which kind we conceive the main float and refloat of the 
fea is, which is by confent of the univerfe, as part of the 
diurnal motion. Bacon. —Any body fo contrived or formed 
as to fwim upon the water: 
A paffage for the weary people make; 
With olier floats the (landing water (trow, 
Of maffy (tones.make bridges, if it flow. Dryden. 
The cork or quill by which the angler difeovers the bite 
of a fifh.—You will find this to be a very choice bait, 
fometimes cafting a little of it into the place where your 
float fwimr. Walton. —A cant word for a level.—Banks 
are meafured by the float or floor, which is eighteen foot 
fquare and one deep. Mortimer. 
FLO AT-BO AR DS, the boards fixed to the outer rim 
of underfhot water-wheels, Serving to receive the inipulfe 
of the dream, by which the wheel is carried round. 
FLO AT 1 NG BRIDG E . See Bridge, voL iii. p. 398. 
FLOATING of WOOD, the art of conveying timber, 
rnafts, fpars, firewood, &c. from one place or port to ano¬ 
ther, by fecuring them together, and fleering them down 
the currents of rivers, canals, &c. Upon floats of tim¬ 
ber alfo are often placed deals, laths, pipe-flaves, &c. 
and with thefe floating bodies men will truft themfelves 
even on rapid rivers, and fometime on large lakes,, or 
arms of the fea. Fire-wood was not fo fcarce formerly in 
the neighbourhood of many large cities as. it is at prefent. 
Men eftabliflied themfelves where it was abundant; and 
they ufed it freely, without thinking on the wants of pof- 
terity, till its being exhaufted rendered it neceffary for 
them to import it from diftant places. It is probable that 
the mod ancient mode of conftrudfing veffels for the pur- 
pofe of navigation, gave rife to the firft idea of conveying, 
timber for building in the like manner; as the earlieft 
(hips or boats were nothing elfe than rafts, ora coliedtion 
of beams and planks bound together, over which were 
placed deals. By the Greeks they were called fchedai, and 
by the Latins rates-, and it is known from the teftimonv of 
many writers, that the ancients ventured out to fea with 
them on piratical expeditions, as well as to carry on com¬ 
merce ; and that after the invention of (hips they were dill 
retained for the tranfportation of foldiers and of heavy 
burdens. This is confirmed by tiie oldeft information to 
be found in hiftory, refpedting the conveyance by water of 
timber for building. Solomon entered into a contract with 
Hiram king of Tyre, by which the latter was to caufe 
cedars for the ufe of the temple to be cut down on the 
weftern fide of mount Lebanon, above Tripoli, and to be 
floated to Jaffa. See 1 'Kings v. 9 ; and 2 Chron. ii. 16. 
The w’ords at leaf! employed by the Hebrew hiftorian, 
which occur no where elfe, are underftood as alluding to 
the conveyance of timber in floats ; and this explanation 
is confidered by Michaelis as conclufive. At prefent no 
dreams run from Lebanon to Jerufalem; and the Jordan, 
the only river in Paleftine that could bear floats, is at a 
great diftance from the cedar forefts. The wood, there¬ 
fore, nuift have been brought along the coaft by fea to 
Jaffa ; and in this manner is the account underftood by 
Jofephus. 
The Romans tranfported by water both limber for 
building, and for firewood. When, during their wars 
againft the Germans, they became acquainted with t! e 
benefit of the common larch, they caufed large quantities 
of it to be carried on the Po to Ravenna from the Alps, 
particularly the Rhaetian ; and to be conveyed alfo to 
Rome for their molt important buildings. Vitruvius 
