order to take away the defence of the face of the opposite bastion. FLANNEL,ns. Fr. flanelle; Swed. flanell; Belg. flanel; Welsh, gwlanen (i. e. woollen). A soft woollen stuff or cloth, for which Wales has been long famous. I cannot answer the Welch flannel. have a much greater attraction for water than any other; yet it would appear from what is related above, that those bodies which receive water in its unelastic form with the greatest ease, or are most easily wet, are not those which in all cases attract the moisture of the atmosphere with the greatest avidity. Perhaps the apparent dampness of linen to the touch, arises more from the ease with which that substance parts with the water it contains, than from the quantity of water it actually holds: in the same manner as a body appears hot to the touch, in consequence of its parting freely with its heat; while another body which is really at the same temperature, but which withholds its heat with greater obstinacy, affects the sense of feeling much less violently. It is well known that woollen clothes, such as flannels, &c., worn near the skin, greatly promote insensible perspiration. May not this arise principally from the strong attraction which subsists between wool and the watery vapor which is continually issuing from the human body? That it does not depend entirely on the warmth of that covering, is clear; for the same degree of warmth produced by wearing more clothing of a different kind, does not produce the same effect. The perspiration of the human body being absorbed by a covering of flannel, it is immediately distributed through the whole thickness of that substance, and by that means exposed, by a very large surface to be carried off by the atmosphere; and the loss of this watery vapor, which the flannel sustains on the one side by evaporation, being immediately restored from the other, in consequence of the strong attraction between the flannel and this vapor, the pores of the skin are disencumbered, and they are continually surrounded by a dry and salubrious atmosphere. Our author expresses his surprise, that the custom of wearing flannel next the skin should not have prevailed more universally. He is confident it would prevent a number of diseases; and he thinks there is no greater luxury than the comfortable sensation which arises from wearing it, especially after one is a little accustomed to it. It is a mistaken notion' says he, that it is too warm a clothing for summer. I have worn it in the hottest climates, and at all seasons of the year; and never found the least inconvenience from it. It is the warm bath of a perspiration confined by a linen shirt, wet with sweat, which renders the summer heats of southern climates so insupportable; but flannel promotes perspiration, and favors its evaporation; and evaporation, as is well known, proWeighed on coming out of duces positive cold.' It has been observed that the cold room, the vault, new flannel, after some time wearing, acquires the property of shining in the dark, but loses it on being washed. Shakspeare. Before her kitchen hearth the nodding dame, In flannel mantle wrapt, enjoys the flame; Hov'ring upon her feeble knees she bends, And all around the grateful warmth ascends. Gay. FLANNEL, OF FLANEL, a kind of slight, loose, woollen stuff, composed of a woof and warp, and woven on a loom with two treadles, after the manner of baize. Dr. Black assigns as a reason why flannel and other substances of the kind keep our bodies warm, that they compose a rare and spongy mass, the fibres of which touch each other so slightly, that the heat moves slowly through the interstices, which being filled only with air, and that in a stagnant stage, give little assistance in conducting the heat. Count Rumford has enquired farther into the matter, and finds that there is a relation betwixt the power which the substances usually worn as clothing have of absorbing moisture, and that of keeping our bodies warm. Having provided a quantity of each of the substances mentioned below, he exposed them, spread out upon clean China plates, for the space of twenty-four hours, to the warm and dry air of a room which had been heated by a German stove for several months, and during the last six hours had raised the thermometer to 84° of Fahrenheit; after which he weighed equal quantities of the different substances with a very accurate balance. They were then spread out upon a China plate, and removed into a very large uninhabited room upon the second floor,.where they were exposed forty-eight hours upon a table in the middle of the room, the air of which was 45°. At the end of this space they were weighed, and then removed into a damp cellar, and placed on a table in the middle of the vault, where the air was at the temperature of 45°, and which by the hygrometer seemed to be fully saturated with moisture. In this situation they were allowed to remain three days and three nights; the vault being all the time hung round with wet linen cloths, to render the air as completely damp as possible. At the end of three days they were weighed, and the weights at the different times were found as in the following table. 1000 parts dried in the 1163 hot room of Sheep's wool 1084 Beaver's fur 1072 1125 Fur of a Russian hare. 1065 1115 FLAP, n. s., v. a. & v. n. FLAP DRAGON, n. s. & v. a. FLAP-JACK, n. s. FLAP MOUTHED, adj Teut. flabbe; Belg. flap; Dan. and Swed. lap, lappe. See FLAB BY. Any thing pendulous, or hanging loose: hence the motion of that which hangs loose; a disease in horses. To flap is to strike with something light or loose; to move with a flap-like-noise of motion. As a verb neuter, to ply the wings with a noise; to fall with flaps or broad pendulous parts. Flap-dragon is a curious synonyme of snap-dragon; a play at catching raisins out of burning spirits: hence to flapdragon is to devour eagerly. A flap-jack is a provincial name for a pan-cake. A flapper, a remonstrancer, as if with a flap or slight stroke of the hand. But to make an end of the ship, to see how the sea flapdragoned it. Shakspeare. Winter's Tale. He plays at quoits well, and eats conger and fennel, and drinks candles' ends for flapdragons, and rides the wild mare with the boys. Shakspeare. A whoreson, beetle-headed, flapeared knave. Id. We'll have moreover puddings and flap-jacks, and thou shalt be welcome. Another flap-mouthed mourner. Id. Pericles. Id. Venus and Adonis. There is a peculiar provision for the windpipe, that is, a cartilaginous flap upon the opening of the larinx, which hath an open cavity for the admission of the Browne. air. The dire flapping on the shield of Turnus, and fluttering about his head, disheartened him in the Dryden's Æneid. duel. A hare, hard put to it by an eagle, took sanctuary in a ditch with a beetle: the eagle flapt off the former, and devoured the other. L'Estrange. Tis common for a duck to run flapping and fluttering away, as if maimed, to carry people from her young. With fruitless toil Id. Philips. Gay. Flap filmy pinions oft, to extricate Their feet in liquid shackles bound, Forbidding airs might thin the place; The slightest flap a fly can chase. When suffocating mists obscure the morn, Let thy worst wig, long used to storms, be worn; This knows the powdered footman, and with care Beneath his flapping hat secures his hair. Id. Some surgeons make a crucial incision, upon the supposition that the wound will more easily heal by turning down the flaps. Three times, all in the dead of night, A bell was heard to ring; And shrieking at her window thrice The raven flapped his wing. Sharp. Tickel. Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, This painted child of dirt, that stinks and stings, Pope. I write to you by way of flapper, to put you in mind, &c. Chesterfield. When a horse has the flaps, you may perceive his lips swelled on both sides of his mouth; and that which is in the blisters is like the white of an egg: cut some slashes with a knife, and rub it once with salt, and it will cure. Farrier's Dictionary. FLARE, v.n. From Dutch flederen, to flutter, (Skinner): Lat. flagro: to glitter with transient or unsteady light or splendor. She shall be loose enrobed, With ribbands pendant flaring 'bout her head. Shakspeare. Doctrine and life, colours and light, in one When they combine and mingle, bring Skinner says from blaze; but Minsheu suggests the Gr. pλog, flame, as the origin of this word, and Dr. Johnson adopts that etymology. Mr. Todd's conjecture that it must be connected with flas (Icel.) tumbling down from a high place,' as where it means a body of water driven with violence, appears quite superfluous : flashes, or is made to flash when its surface is driven into a thousand luminous planes that reflect the light. A sudden, transitory blaze or Dr. Johnson says, 'a body of water driven by gleam of light: any short transient state of things. violence; but supplies no instance of this application of the word, and we find none: as a verb neuter, to flash means to glitter with a transient blaze or gleam of light; to burst out into violence or into sallies of wit, or bright thought: as a verb active, to dash water into motion, and thus cause the light to flash from it; to adorn or dress up in a showy manner: hence flashy is insipid. glittering; empty; showy; without substance; With his raging arms he rudely flashea By day and night he wrongs me; every hour Id. Id. King Lear. We see a flash of a piece is seen sooner than the noise is heard, Bacon's Natural History. The tastes that most offend in fruits, herbs and roots, are bitter, harsh, sour, waterish, or flashy. " Id. The Persians and Macedonians had it for a flash. Bacon. If the sea-water be flashed with a stick or oar, the same casteth a shining colour, and the drops resemble sparkles of fire. Carew. Flashy wits cannot fathom the whole extent of a large discourse. Digby on the Soul, Dedication. When they list, their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw. This mean conceit, this darling mystery, Which thou think'st nothing, friend! thou shalt not buy; Nor will I change for all the flashy wit. Id. Wicked men prefer the light flashes of a wanton mirth, which for a while suspend reflection, and hide the sinner from himself, to such discourses as awaken conscience. Rogers. They flash out sometimes into an irregular greatness of thought. Felton on the Classicks. Are we carried down by the torrent of vanity and vice? Will a flash of wit or a brilliant fancy make us excuse a profane expression? If so, we shall soon come to relish it when thus seasoned, and use it ourselves. Mason. To read froth and trifles all our life, is the way always to retain a flashy and juvenile turn; and only to contemplate our first (which is generally our worst). Id. Red rockets rise, loud cracks are heard on high, Durwin. Were I to compare Milton's genius with Tasso's, I would say, that the sublime of the latter is flashy and fluctuating, while that of the former diffuses an uniform, steady, and vigorous blaze; Milton is more majestic, Tasso more dazzling. Beattie. FLASK, n. s. FLAS'KET. Sax. Flaxa; Goth. Swed. and Arab. flaska; Teut. flasche; Dan. flaske; Welsh flasg; Span. flasco; French flasque, flasquet; Ital. fiasco, perhaps from the Gr. (barb.) pλaokŋ. A flat bottle, basket, or drinking vessel; a powder-horn; a vessel in which viands are served up. Powder in a skilless soldier's flash Is set on fire. Shakspeare. Then for the Bourdeaux you may freely ask But the Champaigne is to each man his flask. Another placed ; King. The silver stands with golden flaskets graced. Pope. † LAT, adj., n. s., v. a. & v, n.) Goth. & Swed. FLAT LONG, adj. FLATLY, adv. FLAT WISE. flat; Danish flode; Teuton. Belg. and Fr. plat; all of Gr. πλατυς (broad) perhaps. Level; horizontal; smooth; low; even with the ground; prostrate: metaphorically, and in works of art, wanting character or relief; depressed; wanting spirits; insipid; tasteless; dull; unqualified; absolute: as a substantive, a level or extended plane; a shore or low ground; the side of a sword or sabre; depression of thought or language: to flat, is to make or grow flat; level; vapid, or depressed; better expressed, both in the active and neuter sense, by to flatten flatlong is with the flat side downwards, as is flatwise: flattish, somewhat or inclining to be, flat. It is a flat wrong to punish the thought or purpose of any before it be enacted; for true justice punisheth nothing but the evil act or wicked word. Spenser. The wood-born people fall before her flat, And worship her as goddess of the wood. Id. Faerie Queene. He, like a puling cuckold, would drink up The lees and dregs of a flat tamed piece. Shakspeare. Id. Tempest. The emperor of Russia was my father; Oh, that he were alive, and here beholding His daughter's trial! that he did but see The flatness of my misery! Id. Winter's Tale. The difficulty is very great to bring them in or out through so many flats and sands, if wind and weather be not very favourable. Raleigh's Essays. In the dawning of the next day we might plainly discern it was a land flat to our sight, and full of boscage. Bacon. Because the air receiveth great tincture from the earth, expose flesh or fish, both upon a stake of wood some height above the earth, and upon the flat of the earth. Id. Short speeches fly abroad like darts, and are thought to be shot out of secret intentions; but as for large discourses, they are flat things, and not so much noted. Id. If you stop the holes of a hawk's bell, it will make Id. no ring, but a flat noise or rattle. The ancients say, if you take two twigs of several fruit-trees, and flat them on the sides, and bind them close, and set them in the ground, they will come up in one stock. Id. Take two saucers, and strike the edge of the one against the bottom of the other within a pail of water, and you shall find the sound groweth more flat, even while part of the saucer is above the water; but that flatness of sound is joined with a harshness. Id. Some short excursions of a broken vow Temple. Dryden. From that great will which moves this mighty frame, Here joys that endure for ever, fresh and in vigour, are opposed to satisfactions that are attended with satiety and surfeits, and flatten in the very tasting. L'Estrange. FLAT is a character in music, expressed by a small b, of which the effect is lowering the note to which it is affixed, a semitone minor. Flats on keyed instruments are the notes on the left hand of the natural notes, as sharps are on the right hand. There are two ways of using flats, the one accidental, which has no effect beyond the single bar in which it occurs; the other is the flat or flats placed at the clef, which affect all the notes on the same line or space throughout a movement, unless accidentally discharged by a natural, . The placing the flats at the clef is not arbitrary, as the first necessarily is on B, the second on E, the fourth above or fifth below, &c. For these five flats upon keyed instruments, there are five short keys;, flats, however, sometimes occur in C and F, but for these the two long keys are obliged to be used of B and E natural, the two half notes below C and F natural. FLAT, of Dr. Boyce, in some parts of his MS., in the library of the Royal Institution, is = S, or 57+f+ 5 m. FLAT, of Liston, to the notes D, G, B, or C, is S, or 47 Σ + f + 4m; and to the notes E, F, or A, is 3, or 36 Σ + f + 3m, the second flat of any note being always the reverse of its first one. FLAT, of Marsh, FLAT, of Maxwell, FLAT, of Overend, Gram. 1st ed. p. 112, this corresponds with theorems below. 3, or 36 Σf + 3m. 8, or 47 Σ = f + 3m. and Dr. Callcott Mus. P, or 58 Σ + f + 5 m; perfect fifths. See the FLAT, of some writers, L, or 46 Σ +f+ 4m. FLAT,of regularly tempered scales, is the minor limna of Dr. R. Smith, which, according to Mr. The upper end of the windpipe is endued with Farey's theorems, Phil. Mag. vol. xxxix, p. 44, is 58 +f+5m-seven times the tempeDeaduess or flatness in cyder is often occasioned by third; or, 32-3228500 +f+2m + sevenrament of the fifth; or, 38-7519656 Σ +f+ seven-fourths of the temperament of the several cartilages and muscles to contract or dilate it, as we would have our voice flat or sharp. the too free admission of air into the vessel. The miry fields, Ray. Mortimer's Husbandry. Rejoicing in rich mould, most ample fruit Of beauteous form produce; pleasing to sight, But to the tongue inelegant and flat. Philips. The houses are flat-roofed to walk upon, so that every bomb that fell on them would take effect. Addison on Italy. How fast does obscurity, flatness, and impertinency, flow in upon our meditations? 'Tis a difficult task to talk to the purpose, and to put life and perspicuity into our discourses. Collier. Its posture in the earth was flatwise, and parallel to the site of the stratum in which it was reposited. Woodward on Fossils. These are from three inches over to six or seven, and of a flattish shape. Id. Are there then such ravishing charms in a dull unvaried flat, to make a sufficient compensation for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills? Bentley. Not any interpreters allow it to be spoken of such as flatly deny the being of God; but of them that, believing his existence, seclude him from directing the world. Id. Some of Homer's translators have swelled into fustian, and others sunk into flatness. Pope.. 3 m thirds of the temperament of the sixth. FLAT, double, (bb), of Chambers and Overend; sometimes 2 P, or 116 Σ + 2f + 10 m; at others, P+ S, or 105 Σ + 2f + 9m. or 83 Σ + 2f + 7m. FLAT-BOTTOMED BOATS are such as are made number of troops, artillery, ammunition, &c. to sail in shallow water, and to carry a great They are constructed with a twelve-pounder bow-chase, and an eighteen-pounder stern-chase; their keel is from ninety to 100 feet, and from twelve to twenty-four feet beam: they have one mast, a large square main-sail, and a jib-sail; are rowed by eighteen or twenty oars, and can bow, and a bridge the other, along which the carry 400 men each. The gun takes up one troops are to march. Those that carry horses have the fore part of the boat made to open when the men are to mount, and ride along a bridge. FLATA ISLANDS, a cluster of small islands of Scotland, near the south-east of North Uist, and one mile north-east of Rona. FLATBUSH, a town of New York, capital of King's county, Long Island. It contains a court-house, a flourishing academy, a Dutch church, and many elegant houses. On the 27th of August, 1776, a bloody battle was fought near it, between the Americans, under general Putnam, and the British and Hessians, under lord Piercy, and generals Clinton and Grant, wherein the latter were victorious. Flatbush is A consort of voices supporting themselves by their pleasantly situated on a small bay, five miles different parts makes a harmony, pleasingly fills the south by east of New York. FLATMAN (Thomas), an English poet of some repute, born at London about 1633. He studied at the Inner Temple, and became a barrister; but having a turn for the fine arts, he followed his inclination, and acquired reputation both as a poet and a painter. He published, in 1682, a third edition of his poems and songs, dedicated to the duke of Ormond; and a satirical romance in prose, on Richard Cromwell, soon after the Restoration. In his youth he wrote a curious satire against matrimony, beginning, Like a dog with a bottle tied close to his tail, FLATTER, v. a. French, flatter; Teut. FLATTERER, n. s. flechan; Minsheu says, ' à FLATTERY. Lat. flatare, frequentative, à flare, to blow': but the word has probably been formed from flat,' smooth: in Swed. flat is both smooth and indulgent; as in Scot. to stroke is also to flatter; and we know that flatterers of all countries are well acquainted with smooth things. To soothe, or please, with praise, false, or true; to gratify with obsequious, or servile compliment. He flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found hateful. Psalm xxxvi. 2. While either partye laboureth to be chiefe, flattery shall haue more place than plaine'and faithfull aduyse. Sir T. More. Shakspeare. Id. When I tell him he hates flatterers, He says he does; being then most flattered. Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, The season's difference; as the icy fang, And churlish chiding of the winter's wind; Which when it bites and blows upon my body, Ev'n 'till I shrink with cold, I smile and say This is no flattery. Id. As You Like It. A flatterer is compared to an ape, who, because she cannot defend the house like a dog, labour as an ox, or bear burdens as a horse, doth therefore yet play tricks, and provoke laughter. Raleigh. Some praises proceed merely of fluttery; and if he be an ordinary flatterer, he will have certain common attributes, which may serve every man : if he be a cunning flatterer, he will follow the arch flatterer, ears and flatters them. Dryden's Dufresnoy. If we from wealth to poverty descend, Want gives to know the flatterer from the friend. Dryden. Minds, by nature great, are conscious of their great ness, And hold it mean to borrow aught from flattery. Rowe. After treating her like a goddess, the husband uses her like a woman; what is still worse, the most abject flatterers degenerate into the greatest tyrants. Addison's Guardian. I scorn to flatter you or any man. Newton. Faction embroils the world, and every tongue, Is moved by flattery, or with scandal hung. Gay. Averse alike to flatter or offend. Pope. about to inform them, shall be censured for a flatterer. The publick should know this: yet whoever goes Swift. Such is the encouragement given to flattery in the present times, that it is made to sit in the parlour, while honesty is turned out of doors. Flattery is never so agreeable as to our blind side: commend a fool for his wit, or a knave for his honesty, and they will receive you into their bosom. Fielding. Flattered crimes of a licentious age Young. See how they beg an alms of flattery! They languish, O! support them with a lye. Id. Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant, and of all tame, a flatterer. Johnson. Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver, and adulation is not of more service to the people than to kings. Burke. I never framed a wish, or formed a plan, FLATULENT, adj. Spatus, Cowper. Old Fr. flatulent; Ital. and Span. flatulento; Lat. flatulentus, flutus, a puff, or blast, of wind. Windy; turgid with air; hence, metaphorically, empty; vain; unmeaning: flatuosity, from the Fr. flatuosité is synonymous with flatulency: flatus is used both in the latter sense, for a puff, or breeze of wind; and, medically, for wind gathered in any of the cavities of the body. Rhubarb in the stomach, in a small quantity, doth digest and overcome, being not flatuous nor loathsome; and so sendeth it to the mesentery veins, and, being Bacon. opening, it helpeth down urine. The cause is flatuosity; for wind stirred, moveth to expel; and all purges have in them a raw spirit of wind, which is the principal cause of tension in the Id. stomach and belly. You make the soul a mere flatus. Clarke to Dodwell. How many of these flatulent writers have sunk in their reputation, after seven or eight editions of their works. Dryden. |