Part 122

Fire"room`, n. Same as Stokehold, below.

Fir"ing pin`. In the breech mechanism of a firearm, the pin which strikes the head of the cartridge and explodes it.

||Flache`rie" (flsh`r"), n. [F.] A bacterial disease of silkworms, supposed to be due to eating contaminated mulberry leaves.

||Fla"con (fl"kôn), n. [F. See Flagon.] A small glass bottle; as, a flacon for perfume. "Two glass flacons for the ink." Longfellow.

Flag, n. (Zoöl.) One of the wing feathers next the body of a bird; -- called also flag feather.

Flag, v. t. To decoy (game) by waving a flag, handkerchief, or the like to arouse the animal's curiosity.

The antelope are getting continually shyer and more difficult to flag.

T. Roosevelt.

Flair (flâr), n. [OE. flaireodor, fr. OF. & F. flair, fr. OF. flairier, F. flairer, to smell, LL. flagrare for L. fragrare. See Flagrant.] 1. Smell; odor. [Obs.]

2. Sense of smell; scent; fig., discriminating sense.

Flake (?), n. [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.

||Flam`bé" (?), a. [F., p.p. of flamber to singe, pass (a thing) through flame. Cf. Flambeau.] (Ceramics) Decorated by glaze splashed or irregularly spread upon the surface, or apparently applied at the top and allowed to run down the sides; -- said of pieces of Chinese porcelain.

||Flâ`ne*rie" (?), n. [F. flânerie. See Flaneur.] Lit., strolling; sauntering; hence, aimless; idleness; as, intellectual flânerie.

Flan"nel flow`er. (Bot.) (a) The common mullein. (b) A Brazilian apocynaceous vine (Macrosiphonia longiflora) having woolly leaves. (c) An umbelliferous Australian flower (Actinotus helianthi), often erroneously thought to be composite. The involucre looks as if cut out of white flannel.

Flare, n. (Photog.) A defect in a photographic objective such that an image of the stop, or diaphragm, appears as a fogged spot in the center of the developed negative.

Flare"-up`, n. A sudden bursting into flame; a flaring.

Flash boiler. A variety of water-tube boiler, used chiefly in steam automobiles, consisting of a nest of strong tubes with very little water space, kept nearly red hot so that the water as it trickles drop by drop into the tubes is immediately flashed into steam and superheated.

Flash burner. A gas burner with a device for lighting by an electric spark.

Flat, a. 1. (Golf) Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft; -- said of a club.

2. (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.

3. (Hort.) Flattening at the ends; -- said of certain fruits.

Flat"ware` (?), n. Articles for the table, as china or silverware, that are more or less flat, as distinguished from hollow ware.

Fleet, v. i. (Naut.) To move or change in position; -- said of persons; as, the crew fleeted aft.

Fleet", v. t. (Naut.) To move or change in position; used only in special phrases; as, of fleet aft the crew.

We got the long "stick" . . . down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured.

F. T. Bullen.