DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
Flat a. [Compar. Flatter superl. Flattest ]
1. Having an even and horizontal surface, or nearly so, without prominences or depressions; level without inclination; plane.
Though sun and moon
Were in the flat sea sunk. --Milton.
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.
What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat! --Milton.
I feel . . . my hopes all flat. --Milton.
3. Fine Arts Wanting relief; destitute of variety; without points of prominence and striking interest.
A large part of the work is, to me, very flat. --Coleridge.
4. Tasteless; stale; vapid; insipid; dead; as, fruit or drink flat to the taste.
5. Unanimated; dull; uninteresting; without point or spirit; monotonous; as, a flat speech or composition.
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world. --Shak.
6. Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull; as, the market is flat.
7. Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright.
Syn: -- flat-out.
Flat burglary as ever was committed. --Shak.
A great tobacco taker too, -- that's flat. --Marston.
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.
9. Phonetics Sonant; vocal; -- applied to any one of the sonant or vocal consonants, as distinguished from a nonsonant (or sharp) consonant.
10. Golf Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft; -- said of a club.
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.
12. Hort. Flattening at the ends; -- said of certain fruits.
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.
Of all who fell by saber or by shot,
Not one fell half so flat as Walter Scott. --Lord Erskine.
flat
adj 1: having a horizontal surface in which no part is higher or
lower than another; "a flat desk"; "acres of level
farmland"; "a plane surface" [syn: level, plane]
2: having no depth or thickness
3: not modified or restricted by reservations; "a categorical
denial"; "a flat refusal" [syn: categoric, categorical,
unconditional]
4: stretched out and lying at full length along the ground;
"found himself lying flat on the floor" [syn: prostrate]
5: lacking contrast or shading between tones [ant: contrasty]
6: lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone; "B flat" [ant: natural,
sharp]
7: flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain
leafstalks or flatfishes) [syn: compressed]
8: lacking taste or flavor or tang; "a bland diet"; "insipid
hospital food"; "flavorless supermarket tomatoes"; "vapid
beer"; "vapid tea" [syn: bland, flavorless, flavourless,
insipid, savorless, savourless, vapid]
9: lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting; "a bland
little drama"; "a flat joke" [syn: bland]
10: having lost effervescence; "flat beer"; "a flat cola"
11: not increasing as the amount taxed increases [syn: fixed]
12: not made with leavening; "most flat breads are made from
unleavened dough" [syn: unraised]
13: parallel to the ground; "a flat roof"
14: without pleats [syn: unpleated]
15: lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an
illusion or depth; "a film with two-dimensional
characters"; "a flat two-dimensional painting" [syn: two-dimensional]
16: (of a tire) completely or partially deflated
17: not reflecting light; not glossy; "flat wall paint"; "a
photograph with a matte finish" [syn: mat, matt, matte,
matted]
18: lacking variety in shading; "a flat unshaded painting"
n 1: a level tract of land
2: a shallow box in which seedlings are started
3: a musical notation indicating one half step lower than the
note named
4: freight car without permanent sides or roof [syn: flatcar,
flatbed]
5: a deflated pneumatic tire [syn: flat tire]
6: scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted
canvas; part of a stage setting
7: a suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house
[syn: apartment]
adv 1: at full length; "he fell flat on his face"
2: with flat sails; "sail flat against the wind"
3: below the proper pitch; "she sang flat last night"
4: against a flat surface; "he lay flat on his back"
5: in a forthright manner; candidly or frankly; "he didn't
answer directly"; "told me straight out"; "came out flat
for less work and more pay" [syn: directly, straight]
[ant: indirectly]
6: wholly or completely; "He is flat broke"
[also: flatting, flatted, flattest, flatter]