Dictionary

flake en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /fleɪk/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.

Meanings

1. A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything
   • There were a few flakes of paint on the floor from when we were painting the walls.
   • And you treated my woman to a flake of your life. And when she came back she was nobody's wife. 1971, Leonard Cohen, Famous Blue Raincoat:
   • A light flutter of snow fell , and I glanced into the silvery sky, letting the flakes fall on my face. 2024, Yasmine Galenorn, A Dream of Snow:
   • flakes of dandruff
2. A scale of a fish or similar animal
3. A prehistoric tool chipped out of stone.
4. (informal) A person who is impractical, flighty, unreliable, or inconsistent; especially with maintaining a living.
   • She makes pleasant conversation, but she's kind of a flake when it comes time for action.
   • The center encouraged its devotees to wear lucky red strings around one wrist, which Neumann did for quite a while, until a more sober-minded business person warned him to lose the item or risk confirming his burgeoning reputation as a flake. 2020 October 23, Walter Kirn, “The Cautionary Tale of Adam Neumann and WeWork”, in New York Times:
5. A carnation with only two colours in the flower, the petals having large stripes.
6. A flat turn or tier of rope.
   • Admiral: What mean you by flakes? Captain: They are only those several circles or rounds of the roapes or cables, that are quoiled up round. 1634, Nathaniel Boteler, Boteler's Dialogues:
   • A flake is the sailor's term for a turn in an ordinary coil, or for a complete tier in a flat coil, as a French or Flemish flake. The current dictionary form of the word is fake, a word that I have never heard used with this meaning. A Flemish flake is a spiral coil of one layer only. 1944, Clifford W. Ashley, The Ashley Book of Knots, Doubleday, pages 516–517:
7. (US, slang) A corrupt arrest, e.g. to extort money for release or merely to fulfil a quota.
   • When police decided to score gamblers, they would most often flake people with gambling slips, then demand $25 or $50 for not arresting them. Other times, they would simply threaten a flake and demand money. 1973, Knapp Commission, New York, The Knapp Commission Report on Police Corruption, page 83:
8. A wire rack for drying fish.

Forms

Coordinates

bizarre · self

Deriveds

cornflake · microflake · bread flake · Flakegate · flakeboard · flake white · oatflake · soap flake · sootflake · flakelike · rye flake · flakeless · soapflake · branflake · antiflake · flakelet · flakeproof · nanoflake · snowflake · flaky · flaker · flakable · flakage · wheatflake · flake salt · pentaflake

Synonyms

fleak

Translations (85)

scn scagghia (archaeology: thin stone tool) · vi vảy (thin chiplike layer) · de Chaot (an unreliable person) · scn tintu (an unreliable person) · fi huithapeli (an unreliable person) · ca floc (thin chiplike layer) · cmn 薄片 (thin chiplike layer) · ru стру́жка (thin chiplike layer) · sh па̀хуља (thin chiplike layer) · sh pàhulja (thin chiplike layer) · it tirapacchi (an unreliable person) · es copo (thin chiplike layer) · tr pul (thin chiplike layer) · el λέπι (thin chiplike layer) · oc ascla (archaeology: thin stone tool) · mi whā (thin chiplike layer) · ja フレーク (thin chiplike layer) · ota یپراق (thin chiplike layer) · haw unahi (thin chiplike layer) · ca ascla (archaeology: thin stone tool) · af bie (thin chiplike layer) · nl lafaard (an unreliable person) · pt floco (thin chiplike layer) · fr éclat (thin chiplike layer) · la floccus (thin chiplike layer) · de Schnarchnase (an unreliable person) · nl schilfer (thin chiplike layer) · it schizzo (thin chiplike layer) · mi pāra (archaeology: thin stone tool) · es lasca (archaeology: thin stone tool) · fr éclat (archaeology: thin stone tool) · it fiocco (thin chiplike layer) · bg люспа (thin chiplike layer) · it scaglia (archaeology: thin stone tool) · es copa (thin chiplike layer) · et lible (thin chiplike layer) · scn scama (thin chiplike layer) · de Drückeberger (an unreliable person) · wa sclat (thin chiplike layer) · fr planche pourrie (an unreliable person) · es malqueda (an unreliable person) · gl floco (thin chiplike layer) · pl płatek (thin chiplike layer) · izh hiutale (thin chiplike layer) · cs vločka (thin chiplike layer) · id serpih (thin chiplike layer) · ru чешу́йка (thin chiplike layer) · ga cáithnín (thin chiplike layer) · fr fragment (thin chiplike layer) · de Flocke (thin chiplike layer) · scn mbrugghiuni (an unreliable person) · el νιφάδα (thin chiplike layer) · is flaga (thin chiplike layer) · ko 플레이크 (thin chiplike layer) · es hojuela (thin chiplike layer) · nl splinter (archaeology: thin stone tool) · nl vlok (thin chiplike layer) · oc flòc (thin chiplike layer) · ru оско́лок (thin chiplike layer) · yi שופּ (thin chiplike layer) · ru хло́пья (thin chiplike layer) · fi hiutale (thin chiplike layer) · oc esclapa (archaeology: thin stone tool) · scn scunchiudutu (an unreliable person) · az lopa (thin chiplike layer) · pt furão (an unreliable person) · et helbe (thin chiplike layer) · sv flaga (thin chiplike layer) · tl manipis na piraso (thin chiplike layer) · sv flisa (archaeology: thin stone tool) · sv flisa (thin chiplike layer) · scn fausu (an unreliable person) · el φολίδα (thin chiplike layer) · de Schussel (an unreliable person) · fr flocon (thin chiplike layer) · es ampo (thin chiplike layer) · scn scagghia (thin chiplike layer) · mi kapu (thin chiplike layer) · cmn 小片 (thin chiplike layer) · es faltón (an unreliable person) · sv flinga (thin chiplike layer) · vi mảnh tước (archaeology: thin stone tool) · es escama (thin chiplike layer) · hu pehely (thin chiplike layer) · id mengelupas (thin chiplike layer)

flake en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /fleɪk/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.

Meanings

1. To break or chip off in a flake.
   • The paint flaked off after only a year.
2. (colloquial) To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through.
   • He said he'd come and help, but he flaked.
3. To store an item such as rope or sail in layers
   • The line is flaked into the container for easy attachment and deployment.
4. (Ireland, slang) To hit (another person).
5. (US, slang) To plant evidence to facilitate a corrupt arrest.
   • When police decided to score gamblers, they would most often flake people with gambling slips, then demand $25 or $50 for not arresting them. Other times, they would simply threaten a flake and demand money. 1973, Knapp Commission, New York, The Knapp Commission Report on Police Corruption, page 83:
6. To lay out on a flake for drying.
   • flake a fish

Forms

Deriveds

beflake · flake off · flake out · flakeable · flake down

Synonyms

fleak

Translations (28)

mi rehu (to break or chip) · it scheggiare (to break or chip) · pt furar (To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through) · es chasquear (To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through) · es mamarse (To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through) · bg лющя се (to break or chip) · it scheggiarsi (to break or chip) · es esfumarse (To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through) · fr s'écailler (to break or chip) · cmn 剝落 /剥落 (to break or chip) · es planchar (To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through) · ru облупи́ться (to break or chip) · nl schilferen (to break or chip) · el απολεπίζω (to break or chip) · es plantar (To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through) · cs loupat se (to break or chip) · fr peler (to break or chip) · fr s'effriter (to break or chip) · fi hilseillä (to break or chip) · nl afschilferen (to break or chip) · it tirare il pacco (To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through) · fr planter (quelqu'un) (To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through) · el ξεφλουδίζω (to break or chip) · es descarapelar (to break or chip) · es descamar (to break or chip) · es rajarse (To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through) · nl (iemand) laten stikken (To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through) · nl niet komen opdagen (To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through)

flake en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /fleɪk/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio
• (US) audio

Etymology

A name given to dogfish to improve its marketability as a food, perhaps from etymology 1.

Meanings

1. (UK, uncountable) Dogfish.
2. (Australia, uncountable) The meat of the gummy shark.
   • Larger shark received about 10%/kg less than those in the 4-6 kg range. Most of the Victorian landed product is wholesaled as carcasses on the Melbourne Fish Market where it is sold to fish and chip shops, the retail sector and through restaurants as ‘flake’. 1999, R. Shotton, Case studies of the management of elasmobranch fisheries, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Part 1, page 746:
   • Susan said, ‘Get me a piece of flake and a serve of chips.’ 2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 72:
   • The local fish shop sold a bit of flake (shark) but most people were too spoiled to eat shark. The main item on the Kiwi table was still snapper, and there was plenty of them, caught by the Kiwis themselves, so no shortage whatsoever. 2007, Archie Gerzee, WOW! Tales of a Larrikin Adventurer, page 141:

flake en · NOUN · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /fleɪk/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio
• (US) audio

Etymology

Compare Icelandic flaki, Icelandic fleki, Danish flage, Dutch vlaak.

Meanings

1. (UK, dialectal) A paling; a hurdle.
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. 1613, Gervase Markham, English Husbandman:
3. A small stage hung over a vessel's side, for workmen to stand on while calking, etc.
4. (alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of fake (“turn or coil of cable or hawser”).
   alt of fake
   • Flake after flake ran out of the tubs, until we were compelled to hand the end of our line to the second mate to splice his own on to. 1898, Frank T. Bullen, The Cruise of the Cachalot: The Story of a New Bedford Whaler:

Forms