n. [ L. afflatus, p. p. of afflare to blow or breathe on; ad + flare to blow. ] A blowing or breathing on; inspiration. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L., fr. afflare. See Afflation. ] 1. A breath or blast of wind. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A divine impartation of knowledge; supernatural impulse; inspiration. [ 1913 Webster ]

A poet writing against his genius will be like a prophet without his afflatus. Spence. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + flat. ] Level with the ground; flat. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A sterile plain, containing an excess of alkali, at the bottom of an undrained basin in an arid region; a playa. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. To flatter excessively. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Conflated; p. pr. & vb. n. Conflating. ] [ L. conflatus, p. p. of conflare to blow together; con- + flare to blow. ] 1. To blow together; to bring together; to collect; to fuse together; to join or weld; to consolidate. [ 1913 Webster ]

The State-General, created and conflated by the passionate effort of the whole nation. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. to ignore distinctions between, by treating two or more distinguishable objects or ideas as one; to confuse. [ PJC ]

n. [ L. conflatio. ] 1. A blowing together, as of many instruments in a concert, or of many fires in a foundry. [ R. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a fusing together; merger of two or more things or ideas into one. [ PJC ]

v. t. [ Pref. de- down + L. flare, flatus to blow. ] To reduce from an inflated condition; used literally and metaphorically; as, to deflate a tire; to deflate expectations. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

adj. 1. brought low in spirit. left us fatigued and deflated spiritually
Syn. -- chapfallen, chopfallen, crestfallen. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. the act or process of deflating. [ PJC ]

2. a fall in the average prices of goods and services; -- usually associated with contraction of economic activity. Opposite of inflation. Compare disinflation. [ PJC ]

3. the reduction of available credit or a contraction of economic activity resulting from or associated with a decline of prices. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

4. the act of letting the air out of something. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

5. (Geol.) the erosion of land structures such as sand or soil due to the action of wind. RHUD [ PJC ]

adj. 1. of or pertaining to deflation; as, deflationary signs. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Economics) associated with or tending to cause decreases in consumer prices or increases in the purchasing power of money; as, deflationary measures. Opposite of inflationary. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a statistical factor designed to remove the effect of inflation; inflation adjusted variables are in constant dollars; as, the GNP deflator.. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ LL. difflatio, fr. L. difflare, difflatum, to disperse by blowing. ] A blowing apart or away. [ Obs. ] Bailey.

n. 1. a reduction in the rate of price increases; a lessening of inflationary pressure. [ PJC ]

2. a reduction of the value of a currency in international exchange markets caused by a government; -- usually done as a means to improve the country's international balance of payments. [ PJC ]

v. t. [ L. efflatus, p. p. of efflare to blow or breathe out; ex + flare to blow. ] To fill with breath; to puff up. Sir T. Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of filling with wind; a breathing or puffing out; a puff, as of wind. [ 1913 Webster ]

A soft efflation of celestial fire. Parnell. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. exsufflare to blow at or upon; ex out + sufflare. See Sufflate. ] (Eccles.) To exorcise or renounce by blowing. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. LL. exsufflatio. ] 1. A blast from beneath. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eccles.) A kind of exorcism by blowing with the breath. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Physiol.) A strongly forced expiration of air from the lungs. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Flatter superl. Flattest ] [ Akin to Icel. flatr, Sw. flat, Dan. flad, OHG. flaz, and AS. flet floor, G. flötz 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 -ë, 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. 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 ]

adv. 1. In a flat manner; directly; flatly. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty. Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Stock Exchange) Without allowance for accrued interest. [ Broker's Cant ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A level surface, without elevation, relief, or prominences; an extended plain; specifically, in the United States, a level tract along the along the banks of a river; as, the Mohawk Flats. [ 1913 Webster ]

Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A level tract lying at little depth below the surface of water, or alternately covered and left bare by the tide; a shoal; a shallow; a strand. [ 1913 Webster ]

Half my power, this night
Passing these flats, are taken by the tide. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Something broad and flat in form; as: (a) A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught. (b) A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned. (c) (Railroad Mach.) A car without a roof, the body of which is a platform without sides; a platform car. (d) A platform on wheel, upon which emblematic designs, etc., are carried in processions. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The flat part, or side, of anything; as, the broad side of a blade, as distinguished from its edge. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Arch.) A floor, loft, or story in a building; especially, a floor of a house, which forms a complete residence in itself; an apartment taking up a whole floor. In this latter sense, the usage is more common in British English. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

6. (Mining) A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal. Raymond. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A dull fellow; a simpleton; a numskull. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Or if you can not make a speech,
Because you are a flat. Holmes. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Mus.) A character [ ♭ ] before a note, indicating a tone which is a half step or semitone lower. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Geom.) A homaloid space or extension. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flatted p. pr. & vb. n. Flatting ] 1. To make flat; to flatten; to level. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress. [ 1913 Webster ]

Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To become flat, or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface. Sir W. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mus.) To fall form the pitch. [ 1913 Webster ]

To flat out, to fail from a promising beginning; to make a bad ending; to disappoint expectations. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Any bird of the genus Flatyrynchus. They belong to the family of flycatchers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A boat with a flat bottom and square ends; -- used for the transportation of bulky freight, especially in shallow waters. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. having a flat bottom. a flat-bottom boat [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Having an even lower surface or bottom; as, a flat-bottomed boat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A kind of low-crowned cap formerly worn by all classes in England, and continued in London after disuse elsewhere; -- hence, a citizen of London. Marston. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Railroads) a railroad car without permanent sides or roof.
Syn. -- flat. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Zool.) Any fish of the family Pleuronectidæ; esp., the winter flounder (Pleuronectes Americanus). The flatfishes have the body flattened, swim on the side, and have eyes on one side, as the flounder, turbot, and halibut. See Flounder. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a police officer, especially a foot patrolman. [ slang ] [ PJC ]

(Med.) A foot in which the arch of the instep is flattened so that the entire sole of the foot rests upon the ground; also, the deformity, usually congential, exhibited by such a foot; splayfoot. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having a flat foot, with little or no arch of the instep; suffering from fallen arches. [ wns=3 ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Firm-footed; determined. [ Slang, U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. clumsy; amateurish; pedestrian; unimaginative; plodding; as, flatfooted prose. [ PJC ]

4. Without reservation; without evasion or compromise; firm; as, a flat-footed refusal; a flatfooted denial. [ wns=4 ]
Syn. -- downright, forthright, foursquare, head-on, straightforward. [ PJC ]

5. With feet flat on the ground; not tiptoe. [ wns=1 ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

6. Unprepared and unable to react quickly; as, the new product caught their competitors flat-footed. [ wns=2 ]
Syn. -- unready. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

To catch (one) flatfooted to catch (a person) unprepared; to catch (a person) by surprise. [ PJC ]

a. Characterized by flatness of head, especially that produced by artificial means, as a certain tribe of American Indians. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Ethnol.) A Chinook Indian. See Chinook, n., 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a head with a flattened top; as, a flat-headed nail. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An iron with a flat, smooth surface for ironing clothes. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. flare, flatum to blow. ] Producing wind; flatulent. [ Obs. ] A. Brewer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Flat, a. + adverbial suff. -ling. ] With the flat side, as of a sword; flatlong; in a prostrate position. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. With the flat side downward; not edgewise. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. In a flat manner; evenly; horizontally; without spirit; dully; frigidly. [ 1913 Webster ]

He that does the works of religion slowly, flatly, and without appetite. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. peremptorily; positively; plainly; forthrightly. “He flatly refused his aid.” Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. someone who shares an apartment with a person. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. The quality or state of being flat. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Eveness of surface; want of relief or prominence; the state of being plane or level. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Want of vivacity or spirit; prostration; dejection; depression. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Want of variety or flavor; dullness; insipidity. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Depression of tone; the state of being below the true pitch; -- opposed to sharpness or acuteness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. ] A flatterer. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. downright; plain; unqualified; as, a flat-out lie.
Syn. -- out-and-out, outright. [ PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flattened p. pr. & vb. n. Flattening. ] [ From Flat, a. ] 1. To reduce to an even surface or one approaching evenness; to make flat; to level; to make plane. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To throw down; to bring to the ground; to prostrate; hence, to depress; to deject; to dispirit. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make vapid or insipid; to render stale. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Mus.) To lower the pitch of; to cause to sound less sharp; to let fall from the pitch. [ 1913 Webster ]

To flatten a sail (Naut.), to set it more nearly fore-and-aft of the vessel. --
Flattening oven, in glass making, a heated chamber in which split glass cylinders are flattened for window glass. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become or grow flat, even, depressed, dull, vapid, spiritless, or depressed below pitch. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. shaped like a thin sheet.
Syn. -- planate. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. (Biol) flattened laterally along the whole length e.g. certain leafstalks or flatfishes.
Syn. -- compressed, flat. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

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 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flattered p. pr. & vb. n. Flattering. ] [ OE. flateren, cf. OD. flatteren; akin to G. flattern to flutter, Icel. flaðra 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 ]