Flake
Flake (flāk) , noun
[Compare Icelandic flaki, fleki, Danish flage, Dutch vlaak.]
1.
A paling; a hurdle. [prov. English]
2.
A platform of hurdles, or small sticks made fast or interwoven, supported by stanchions, for drying codfish and other things.
You shall also, after they be ripe, neither suffer them to have straw nor fern under them, but lay them either upon some smooth table, boards, or flakes of wands, and they will last the longer.
3.
(Nautical) A small stage hung over a vessel's side, for workmen to stand on in calking, etc.
Flake (flāk) , noun
[Compare Icelandic flakna to flake off, split, flagna to flake off, Swedish flaga flaw, flake, flake plate, Danish flage snowflake. Compare Flag a flat stone.]
1.
A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything; a film; flock; lamina; layer; scale; as, a flake of snow, tallow, or fish.
Lottle flakes of scurf.
Great flakes of ice encompassing our boat.
2.
A little particle of lighted or incandescent matter, darted from a fire; a flash.
With flakes of ruddy fire.
3.
(Botany) A sort of carnation with only two colors in the flower, the petals having large stripes.
4.
a person who behaves strangely; a flaky{2} person. [Colloquial]
Collocations (3)
Flake knife (Archaeology) , a cutting instrument used by savage tribes, made of a flake or chip of hard stone. — Tylor
Flake stand , the cooling tub or vessel of a still worm. — Knight
Flake white (Painting) , (a) The purest white lead, in the form of flakes or scales. (b) The trisnitrate of bismuth. — Ure
Flake , noun
[Etym. uncertain; compare 1st Fake.]
A flat layer, or fake, of a coiled cable.
Flake after flake ran out of the tubs, until we were compelled to hand the end of our line to the second mate.
Flake , transitive verb
To form into flakes. — Pope
Flake , intransitive verb
To separate in flakes; to peel or scale off.