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Subject to sudden flaws or gusts of wind.

To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; - - said of a cable or hawser.

without breaking; pliable; yielding to pressure; not stiff or brittle. When the splitting wind Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks. Shak.

Having turns, windings, or flexures.

rrows. Swift. Swift flights of angels ministrant. Milton. Like a flight of fowl Scattered winds and tempestuous gusts. Shak.

urface of a fluid, or through the air. They stretch their broad plumes and float upon the wind. Pope. There seems a floating whisper on the hills. Byron.

; a foundry cupola. -- Flowing sheet (Naut.), a sheet when eased off, or loosened to the wind, as when the wind is abaft the beam. Totten.

A general name for organ stops in which the sound is caused by wind passing through a flue or fissure and striking an edge above; -- in distinction from reedwork.

A sudden and brief blast or gust; a light, temporary breeze; as, a flurry of wind.

A musical wind instrument, consisting of a hollow cylinder or pipe, with holes along its length, stopped by the fingers or by keys which are opened by the fingers. The modern flute is closed at the upper end, and blown with the mouth at a lateral hole. The breathing flute's soft notes are heard around. Pope.…

To move with quick vibrations or undulations; as, a sail flutters in the wind; a fluttering fan.

To move through the air or before the wind; esp., to pass or be driven rapidly through the air by any impulse.

ostis scabra). So called from its light panicle, which is blown to great distances by the wind.

of steps which are parallel to each other(as in ordinary stairs), as distinguished from a winder.

A warm dry wind that often blows in the northern valleys of the Alps, due to the indraught of a storm center passing over Central Europe. The wind, heated by compression in its descent from the mountains, reaches the base, particularly in winter, dry and warm.

The space between the cusps in Gothic architecture; a rounded or leaflike ornament, in windows, niches, etc. A group of foils is called trefoil, quatrefoil, quinquefoil, etc., according to the number of arcs of which it is composed. Foil stone, an imitation of a jewel or precious stone.

A trick or fraud; a swindle. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

To dwindle away; to disappear. [Obs.] Rom of R.

remast of a ship. -- Fore topmast. (Naut.) See Fore-topmast, in the Vocabulary. -- Fore wind, a favorable wind. [Obs.] Sailed on smooth seas, by fore winds borne. Sandys. -- Fore world, the antediluvian world. [R.] Southey.

; to have a presentiment of. [Obs.] As when, with unwieldy waves, the great sea forefeels winds. Chapman.