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To attempt to catch fish; to be employed in taking fish, by any means, as by angling or drawing a net.

To treat with praise or blandishments; to gratify or attempt to gratify the self-love or vanity of, esp. by artful and interested commendation or attentions; to blandish; to cajole; to wheedle. When I tell him he hates flatterers, He says he does, being then most flattered. Shak. A man that flattereth his neighbor, spr…

To make a wry face in contempt, or to grin in scorn; to deride; to sneer; to mock; to gibe; as, to fleer and flout. To fleer and scorn at our solemnity. Shak.

To let the foot slip from a ball, when attempting to give a tight croquet.

A severe or contemptuous remark; an expression of sarcastic scorn; a gibe; a sarcasm. I, who love to have a fling, Both at senate house and king. Swift.

To jeer at; to treat with contempt; to mock. [Obs.] I am ashamed; I am scorned; I am flirted. Beau. & Fl.

To mock or insult; to treat with contempt. Phillida flouts me. Walton. Three gaudy standarts lout the pale blue sky. Byron.

A contemptuous name for a liveried servant or a footman.

To run from danger; to attempt to escape; to flee; as, an enemy or a coward flies. See Note under Flee. Fly, ere evil intercept thy flight. Milton. Whither shall I fly to escape their hands Shak.

An exclamation of abhorrence or contempt; poh; fle. Shak.

To render (an effort or attempt) vain or nugatory; to baffle; to outwit; to balk; to frustrate; to defeat. And by foiled. Dryden. Her long locks that foil the painter's power. Byron.

Absurd; ridiculous; despicable; contemptible. A foolish figure he must make. Prior.

lled in F. enfants perdus, in G. verloren posten) selected, usually from volunteers, to attempt a breach, scale the wall of a fortress, or perform other extraordinarily perilous service; also, a desperate case or enterprise.

as an expression of deference or respect, especially to woman; now used ironically or contemptuously. A fit man, forsooth, to govern a realm! Hayward. Our old English word forsooth has been changed for the French madam. Guardian.

A fig; -- a word of contempt. [Obs.] A foutra for the world and wordlings base! Shak.

Liable to fall from virtue or be led into sin; not strong against temptation; weak in resolution; also, unchaste; -- often applied to fallen women. Man is frail, and prone to evil. Jer. Taylor.

To extempt from charge for postage, as a letter, package, or packet, etc.

ing from, fraund; as, a fraudulent bargain. He, with serpent tongue, . . . His fraudulent temptation thus began. Milton.

A frivolous, contemptible fellow; a fop. A pert fribble of a peer. Thackeray.

Trifling; contemptible.