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Webster 1913 Edition

Flat

Flat

(flăt)
,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Flatter
(flăt′rẽr)
;
sup
erl.
Flattest
(flăt′tĕst)
.]
[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.
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.
Shakespeare
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.
Shakespeare
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.
Flat arch
.
(Arch.)
See under
Arch
,
Noun.
, 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
.

Of all who fell by saber or by shot,
Not one
fell
half so
flat
as Walter Scott.
Lord Erskine.

Flat

,
adv.
1.
In a flat manner; directly; flatly.
Sin is
flat
opposite to the Almighty.
Herbert.
2.
(Stock Exchange)
Without allowance for accrued interest.
[Broker's Cant]

Flat

,
Noun.
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
.
Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a
flat
.
Bacon.
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.
Half my power, this night
Passing these
flats
, are taken by the tide.
Shakespeare
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.
4.
The flat part, or side, of anything; as, the broad side of a blade, as distinguished from its edge.
6.
(Mining)
A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.
Raymond.
7.
A dull fellow; a simpleton; a numskull.
[Colloq.]
Or if you can not make a speech,
Because you are a
flat
.
Holmes.
8.
(Mus.)
A character [♭] before a note, indicating a tone which is a half step or semitone lower.
9.
(Geom.)
A homaloid space or extension.

Flat

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Flatted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Flatting
.]
1.
To make flat; to flatten; to level.
2.
To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.
Passions are allayed, appetites are
flatted
.
Barrow.
3.
To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.

Flat

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To become flat, or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface.
Sir W. Temple.
2.
(Mus.)
To fall form the pitch.
To flat out
,
to fail from a promising beginning; to make a bad ending; to disappoint expectations.
[Colloq.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Flat

FLAT

,
Adj.
[L. latus, broad; Gr.; Eng. blade.]
1.
Having an even surface, without risings or indentures, hills or valleys; as flat land.
2.
Horizontal; level; without inclination; as a flat roof; or with a moderate inclination or slope; for we often apply the word to the roof of a house that is not steep, though inclined.
3.
Prostrate; lying the whole length on the ground. He fell or lay flat on the ground.
4.
Not elevated or erect; fallen.
Cease t'admire, and beauty's plumes fall flat.
5.
Level with the ground; totally fallen.
What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat.
6.
In painting, wanting relief or prominence of the figures.
7.
Tasteless; stale; vapid; insipid; dead; as fruit flat to the taste.
8.
Dull; unanimated; frigid; without point or spirit; applied to discourses and compositions. The sermon was very flat.
9.
Depressed; spiritless; dejected.
I feel - my hopes all flat.
10.
Unpleasing; not affording gratification.
How flat and insipid are all the pleasures of this life!
11.
Peremptory; absolute; positive; downright. He gave the petitioner a flat denial.
Thus repulsed, our final hope is flat despair.
12.
Not sharp or shrill; not acute; as a flat sound.
13.
Low, as the prices of goods; or dull, as sales.

FLAT

,
Noun.
1.
A level or extended plain. In America, it is applied particularly to low ground or meadow that is level, but it denotes any land of even surface and of some extent.
2.
A level ground lying at a small depth under the surface of water; a shoal; a shallow; a strand; a sand bank under water.
3.
The broad side of a blade.
4.
Depression of thought or language.
5.
A surface without relief or prominences.
6.
In music, a mark of depression in sound. A flat denotes a fall or depression of half a tone.
7.
A boat, broad and flat-bottomed. A flat-bottomed boat is constructed for conveying passengers or troops, horses, carriages and baggage.

FLAT

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To level; to depress; to lay smooth or even; to make broad and smooth; to flatten.
2.
To make vapid or tasteless.
3.
To make dull or unanimated.

FLAT

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To grow flat; to fall to an even surface.
2.
To become insipid, or dull and unanimated.

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