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The act of deflouring; as, the defloration if a virgin. Johnson.

A deflouring. [R.] Feltham.

A flourish of trumpets, as in coming into the lists, etc.; also, a short and lively air performed on hunting horns during the chase. The fanfare announcing the arrival of the various Christian princes. Sir W. Scott.

Fantastic designs. Embroidered with fantasies and flourishes of gold thread. Hawthorne.

One of a fanatical sect which flourished in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, and maintained that flagellation was of equal virtue with baptism and the sacrament; -- called also disciplinant.

Flourishing; thriving; fresh; in good case; vigorous. [Obs.] "Frim pastures." Drayton.

irgil, etc., wrote. Hence: (c) That period in the history of a literature, etc., when it flourishes in its greatest purity or attains its greatest glory; as, the Elizabethan age has been considered the golden age of English literature. -- Golden balls, three gilt balls used as a sign of a pawnbroker's office or shop;…

g up and come to matturity in a natural way; to be produced by vegetation; to thrive; to flourish; as, rice grows in warm countries. Where law faileth, error groweth. Gower.

t to be estimated; also, any particular moment. There is scarce an instant between their flourishing and their not being. Hooker.

One of a class of poets which flourished in Nuremberg and some other cities of Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries. They bound themselves to observe certain arbitrary laws of rhythm.

A love-singer; specifically, one of a class of German poets and musicians who flourished from about the middle of the twelfth to the middle of the fourteenth century. They were chiefly of noble birth, and made love and beauty the subjects of their verses.

The flourish sounded on a horn by a huntsman. See Mot, n., 3, and Mort. Chaucer.

Worthy of the palm; flourishing; prosperous. In the most high and palmy state of Rome. Shak.

A flourish made with the pen at the end of a signature. In the Middle Ages, this formed a sort of rude safeguard against forgery. Brande & C.

. See under Color. -- Primitive Fathers (Eccl.), the acknowledged Christian writers who flourished before the Council of Nice, A. D. 325. Shipley. -- Primitive groove (Anat.), a depression or groove in the epiblast of the primitive streak. It is not connected with the medullary groove, which appears later and in fron…

or contemplation; especially, thoughts suggested by truth. Job's reflections on his once flourishing estate did at the same time afflict and encourage him. Atterbury.

Renewed pursuit, or cultivation, or flourishing state of something, as of commerce, arts, agriculture.

iting, rhetoric; oratorical; as, the rhetorical art; a rhetorical treatise; a rhetorical flourish. They permit him to leave their poetical taste ungratified, provided that he gratifies their rhetorical sense. M. Arnold. -- Rhe*tor"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Rhe*tor"ic*al*ness, n.

A mark or flourish added to a person's signature, intended to represent a seal, and in some States allowed as a substitute for a seal. [U.S.] Burrill.

To flourish, so as to make the sound swish. Coleridge.