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To hang loose without stiffness; to bend down, as flexible bodies; to be loose, yielding, limp. As loose it [the sail] flagged around the mast. T. Moore.

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." Addison. Great flakes of ice encompassing our boat. Evelyn.

Consisting of flakes or of small, loose masses; lying, or cleaving off, in flakes or layers; flakelike. What showers of mortal hail, what flaky fires! Watts. A flaky weight of winter's purest snows. Wordsworth.

A soft, nappy, woolen cloth, of loose texture. Shak. Adam's flannel. (Bot.) See under Adam. -- Canton flannel, Cotton flannel. See Cotton flannel, under Cotton.

Anything broad and limber that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved; as, the flap of a garment. A cartilaginous flap upon the opening of the larynx. Sir T. Browne.

Having broad, loose, dependent ears. Shak.

Weak; feeble; limp; slight; vain; without strength or solidity; of loose and unsubstantial structure; without reason or plausibility; as, a flimsy argument, excuse, objection. Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines. Pope. All the flimsy furniture of a country miss's brain. Sheridan.

The repeated stroke of something long and loose. Johnson.

A detached mass of loosely fibrous structure like a shredded tuft of wool.

silk, used in embroidering. Floss silk, silk that has been twisted, and which retains its loose and downy character. It is much used in embroidery. Called also floxed silk. -- Floss thread, a kind of soft flaxen yarn or thread, used for embroidery; -- called also linen floss, and floss yarn. McElrath.…

To hang loose and waving; as, a flowing mantle; flowing locks. The imperial purple flowing in his train. A. Hamilton.

rough a tap hole; 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.

ëriform. or gaseous state; -- opposed to solidity. It was this want of organization, this looseness and fluidity of the new movement, that made it penetrate through every class of society. J. R. Green.

able. -- Fly rod, a light fishing rod used in angling with a fly. -- Fly sheet, a small loose advertising sheet; a handbill. -- Fly snapper (Zoöl.), an American bird (Phainopepla nitens), allied to the chatterers and shrikes. The male is glossy blue-black; the female brownish gray. -- Fly wheel (Mach.), a heavy whe…

t which is folded together, or which infolds or envelops; embrace. Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold. Shak. Fold net, a kind of net used in catching birds.

A paramour; a loose woman; also, a gay, idle fellow. [Obs.] Spenser.

Unrestrained; loose; licentious; -- used in a bad sense. Spenser.

ng, as when the threads of the warp or of the woof wear off so that the cross threads are loose; to ravel; as, the cloth frays badly. A suit of frayed magnificience. tennyson.

n, consisting sometimes of projecting ends, twisted or plaited together, and sometimes of loose threads of wool, silk, or linen, or narrow strips of leather, or the like.

A loose outer garment; especially, a gown forming a part of European modern costume for women and children; also, a coarse hirtlike garment worn by some workmen over their ther clothes; a smock frock; as, a marketman's frock.