flake

Noun · Verb
US[fleyk]/fleɪk/1 syllable
Synonyms: snowflakeeccentriceccentric personoddballgeekbitchipfleckscrappeel offpeelflake off

Open English WordNet

Verb (3)flakes, flaked, flaking

  1. form into flakes“The substances started to flake”More general form
  2. cover with flakes or as if with flakesMore general cover
  3. come off in flakes or thin small pieces“The paint in my house is peeling off”Synonyms: peel offpeelflake offMore general chip, chip off

Noun (3)flakes

  1. a crystal of snowSynonyms: snowflakeType of crystalPart of snow, snowfallSubstance of snowMade of water, H2O
  2. a person with an unusual or odd personalitySynonyms: eccentriceccentric personoddballgeekType of actor, doerKinds crackpot, nutter
  3. a small fragment of something broken off from the whole“a bit of rock caught him in the eye”Synonyms: bitchipfleckscrapType of fragmentKinds splinter, scurf, scale, matchwood

Related words flakey adjective, flaky adjective, peel off verb

Word of the day · Nov 7About this word
perennialadjective

What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Flake (flāk), noun

Origin: Cf. Icel. flaki, fleki, Dan. flage, D. vlaak.

1. A paling; a hurdle. prov. Eng.

2. A platform of hurdles, or small sticks made fast or interwoven, supported by stanchions, for drying codfish and other things.

You shall also, after they be ripe, neither suffer them to have straw nor fern under them, but lay them either upon some smooth table, boards, or flakes of wands, and they will last the longer.— English Husbandman.

3. Nautical A small stage hung over a vessel's side, for workmen to stand on in calking, etc.

Flake (flāk), noun

Origin: Cf. Icel. flakna to flake off, split, flagna to flake off, Sw. flaga flaw, flake, flake plate, Dan. flage snowflake. Cf. Flag a flat stone.

1. 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.” Joseph Addison

Great flakes of ice encompassing our boat.— John Evelyn

2. A little particle of lighted or incandescent matter, darted from a fire; a flash.

With flakes of ruddy fire.— William Somerville

3. Botany A sort of carnation with only two colors in the flower, the petals having large stripes.

4. a person who behaves strangely; a flaky{2} person. colloquial

Flake knife Archæol., a cutting instrument used by savage tribes, made of a flake or chip of hard stone. Edward Burnett Tylor — Flake stand, the cooling tub or vessel of a still worm. Knight, Edward Henry — Flake white. Painting (a) The purest white lead, in the form of flakes or scales. (b) The trisnitrate of bismuth. Andrew Ure

Flake noun

Origin: Etym. uncertain; cf. 1st Fake.

A flat layer, or fake, of a coiled cable.

Flake after flake ran out of the tubs, until we were compelled to hand the end of our line to the second mate.— F. T. Bullen.
Flake transitive verb [past tense & past participle Flaked; present participle & verbal noun Flaking.]

To form into flakes. Alexander Pope

Flake intransitive verb

To separate in flakes; to peel or scale off.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: 1913 supplement, GCIDE editors

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