Search Result for "flatter": 
Wordnet 3.0

VERB (1)

1. praise somewhat dishonestly;
[syn: flatter, blandish]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Flat \Flat\ (fl[a^]t), a. [Compar. Flatter (fl[a^]t"r[~e]r); superl. Flattest (fl[a^]t"t[e^]st).] [Akin to Icel. flatr, Sw. flat, Dan. flad, OHG. flaz, and AS. flet floor, G. fl["o]tz stratum, layer.] 1. Having an even and horizontal surface, or nearly so, without prominences or depressions; level without inclination; plane. [1913 Webster] Though sun and moon Were in the flat sea sunk. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 2. Lying at full length, or spread out, upon the ground; level with the ground or earth; prostrate; as, to lie flat on the ground; hence, fallen; laid low; ruined; destroyed. [1913 Webster] What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat! --Milton. [1913 Webster] I feel . . . my hopes all flat. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 3. (Fine Arts) Wanting relief; destitute of variety; without points of prominence and striking interest. [1913 Webster] A large part of the work is, to me, very flat. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster] 4. Tasteless; stale; vapid; insipid; dead; as, fruit or drink flat to the taste. [1913 Webster] 5. Unanimated; dull; uninteresting; without point or spirit; monotonous; as, a flat speech or composition. [1913 Webster] How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 6. Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull; as, the market is flat. [1913 Webster] 7. Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright. Syn: flat-out. [1913 Webster] Flat burglary as ever was committed. --Shak. [1913 Webster] A great tobacco taker too, -- that's flat. --Marston. [1913 Webster] 8. (Mus.) (a) Below the true pitch; hence, as applied to intervals, minor, or lower by a half step; as, a flat seventh; A flat. (b) Not sharp or shrill; not acute; as, a flat sound. [1913 Webster] 9. (Phonetics) Sonant; vocal; -- applied to any one of the sonant or vocal consonants, as distinguished from a nonsonant (or sharp) consonant. [1913 Webster] 10. (Golf) Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft; -- said of a club. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] 11. (Gram.) Not having an inflectional ending or sign, as a noun used as an adjective, or an adjective as an adverb, without the addition of a formative suffix, or an infinitive without the sign to. Many flat adverbs, as in run fast, buy cheap, are from AS. adverbs in -["e], the loss of this ending having made them like the adjectives. Some having forms in ly, such as exceeding, wonderful, true, are now archaic. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] 12. (Hort.) Flattening at the ends; -- said of certain fruits. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] Flat arch. (Arch.) See under Arch, n., 2. (b). Flat cap, cap paper, not folded. See under Paper. Flat chasing, in fine art metal working, a mode of ornamenting silverware, etc., producing figures by dots and lines made with a punching tool. --Knight. Flat chisel, a sculptor's chisel for smoothing. Flat file, a file wider than its thickness, and of rectangular section. See File. Flat nail, a small, sharp-pointed, wrought nail, with a flat, thin head, larger than a tack. --Knight. Flat paper, paper which has not been folded. Flat rail, a railroad rail consisting of a simple flat bar spiked to a longitudinal sleeper. Flat rods (Mining), horizontal or inclined connecting rods, for transmitting motion to pump rods at a distance. --Raymond. Flat rope, a rope made by plaiting instead of twisting; gasket; sennit. Note: Some flat hoisting ropes, as for mining shafts, are made by sewing together a number of ropes, making a wide, flat band. --Knight. Flat space. (Geom.) See Euclidian space. Flat stitch, the process of wood engraving. [Obs.] -- Flat tint (Painting), a coat of water color of one uniform shade. To fall flat (Fig.), to produce no effect; to fail in the intended effect; as, his speech fell flat. [1913 Webster] Of all who fell by saber or by shot, Not one fell half so flat as Walter Scott. --Lord Erskine. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Flatter \Flat"ter\, v. i. To use flattery or insincere praise. [1913 Webster] If it may stand him more in stead to lie, Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or adjure. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Flatter \Flat"ter\ (fl[a^]t"t[~e]r), n. 1. One who, or that which, makes flat or flattens. [1913 Webster] 2. (Metal Working) (a) A flat-faced fulling hammer. (b) A drawplate with a narrow, rectangular orifice, for drawing flat strips, as watch springs, etc. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Flatter \Flat"ter\ (fl[a^]t"t[~e]r), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Flattered; p. pr. & vb. n. Flattering.] [OE. flateren, cf. OD. flatteren; akin to G. flattern to flutter, Icel. fla[eth]ra to fawn, flatter: cf. F. flatter. Cf. Flitter, Flutter, Flattery.] 1. 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. [1913 Webster] When I tell him he hates flatterers, He says he does, being then most flattered. --Shak. [1913 Webster] A man that flattereth his neighbor, spreadeth a net for his feet. --Prov. xxix. 5. [1913 Webster] Others he flattered by asking their advice. --Prescott. [1913 Webster] 2. To raise hopes in; to encourage or favorable, but sometimes unfounded or deceitful, representations. [1913 Webster] 3. To portray too favorably; to give a too favorable idea of; as, his portrait flatters him. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

flatter v 1: praise somewhat dishonestly [syn: flatter, blandish] [ant: belittle, disparage, pick at]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

88 Moby Thesaurus words for "flatter": adorn, adulate, apotheosize, beautify, become, beguile, belaud, bend the knee, bepraise, beslobber, beslubber, blandish, bless, blow up, boast of, bootlick, bow, bow and scrape, brag about, brown-nose, butter up, cajole, celebrate, coax, complement, compliment, conceit, court, cower, crawl, creep, cringe, crouch, cry up, decorate, deify, embellish, emblazon, enhance, eulogize, exalt, extol, fawn, fawn upon, finish, flannel, glorify, grovel, hero-worship, idolize, inveigle, kneel, kowtow, laud, lick the dust, lickspittle, lionize, magnify, make fair weather, make much of, oil, oil the tongue, ornament, overpraise, palaver, panegyrize, pay tribute, perfect, play up to, porter aux nues, praise, puff, puff up, salute, shine up to, slobber over, soft-soap, stoop, suck up to, suit, sweet-talk, toadeat, toady, toady to, truckle, truckle to, trumpet, wheedle