Part 4363

<blockquote>I feel . . . my hopes all <b>flat</b>. <i>Milton.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Fine Arts)</fld> <def>Wanting relief; destitute of variety; without points of prominence and striking interest.</def>

<blockquote>A large part of the work is, to me, very <b>flat</b>. <i>Coleridge.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>Tasteless; stale; vapid; insipid; dead; <as>as, fruit or drink <ex>flat</ex> to the taste</as>.</def>

<p><b>5.</b> <def>Unanimated; dull; uninteresting; without point or spirit; monotonous; <as>as, a <ex>flat</ex> speech or composition</as>.</def>

<blockquote>How weary, stale, <b>flat</b>, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>6.</b> <def>Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull; <as>as, the market is <ex>flat</ex></as>.</def>

<p><b>7.</b> <def>Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright.</def>

<blockquote><b>Flat</b> burglary as ever was committed. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>A great tobacco taker too, -- that's <b>flat</b>. <i>Marston.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>8.</b> <fld>(Mus.)</fld> <sd>(a)</sd> <def>Below the true pitch; hence, as applied to intervals, minor, or lower by a half step; <as>as, a <ex>flat</ex> seventh; A <ex>flat</ex>.</as></def> <sd>(b)</sd> <def>Not sharp or shrill; not acute; <as>as, a <ex>flat</ex> sound</as>.</def>

<p><b>9.</b> <fld>(Phonetics)</fld> <def>Sonant; vocal; -- applied to any one of the sonant or vocal consonants, as distinguished from a nonsonant (or <i>sharp</i>) consonant.</def>

<cs><col>Flat arch</col>. <fld>(Arch.)</fld> <cd>See under <er>Arch</er>, <tt>n.</tt>, 2. (<it>b</it>).</cd> -- <col>Flat cap</col>, <cd>cap paper, not folded. See under <er>Paper</er>.</cd> -- <col>Flat chasing</col>, <cd>in fine art metal working, a mode of ornamenting silverware, etc., producing figures by dots and lines made with a punching tool.</cd> <i>Knight.</i> -- <col>Flat chisel</col>, <cd>a sculptor's chisel for smoothing.</cd> -- <col>Flat file</col>, <cd>a file wider than its thickness, and of rectangular section. See <er>File</er>.</cd> -- <col>Flat nail</col>, <cd>a small, sharp-pointed, wrought nail, with a flat, thin head, larger than a tack.</cd> <i>Knight.</i> -- <col>Flat paper</col>, <cd>paper which has not been folded.</cd> -- <col>Flat rail</col>, <cd>a railroad rail consisting of a simple flat bar spiked to a longitudinal sleeper.</cd> -- <col>Flat rods</col> <fld>(Mining)</fld>, <cd>horizontal or inclined connecting rods, for transmitting motion to pump rods at a distance.</cd> <i>Raymond.</i> -- <col>Flat rope</col>, <cd>a rope made by plaiting instead of twisting; gasket; sennit.</cd> <note>Some flat hoisting ropes, as for mining shafts, are made by sewing together a number of ropes, making a wide, flat band</note>. <i>Knight.</i> -- <col>Flat space</col>. <fld>(Geom.)</fld> <cd>See <cref>Euclidian space</cref>.</cd> -- <mcol><col>Flat stitch</col>, <cd>the process of wood engraving.</cd> <mark>[Obs.]</mark> -- <col>Flat tint</col></mcol> <fld>(Painting)</fld>, <cd>a coat of water color of one uniform shade.</cd> -- <col>To fall flat</col> <mark>(Fig.)</mark>, <cd>to produce no effect; to fail in the intended effect; as, his speech <i>fell flat<i>.</cd>

<blockquote>Of all who fell by saber or by shot, Not one <b>fell</b> half so <b>flat</b> as Walter Scott. <i>Lord Erskine.</i></blockquote> </cs>

<h1>Flat</h1> <Xpage=567>

<hw>Flat</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>adv.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>In a flat manner; directly; flatly.</def>

<blockquote>Sin is <b>flat</b> opposite to the Almighty. <i>Herbert.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <fld>(Stock Exchange)</fld> <def>Without allowance for accrued interest.</def> <mark>[Broker's Cant]</mark>

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<h1>Flat</h1> <Xpage=568>

<hw>Flat</hw>, <tt>n.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>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>as, the Mohawk <ex>Flats</ex></as>.</def>

<blockquote>Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a <b>flat</b>. <i>Bacon.</i></blockquote>

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<p><b>2.</b> <def>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.</def>

<blockquote>Half my power, this night Passing these <b>flats</b>, are taken by the tide. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

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

<p><b>4.</b> <def>The flat part, or side, of anything; as, the broad side of a blade, as distinguished from its edge.</def>

<p><b>5.</b> <fld>(Arch.)</fld> <def>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 -->.</def>