flaw
Contents
EnglishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English flawe, flay (“a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter”), probably from Old Norse flaga (“a flag or slab of stone, flake”), from Proto-Germanic *flagō (“a layer of soil”), from Proto-Indo-European *plāk- (“broad, flat”). Cognate with Icelandic flaga (“flake”), Swedish flaga (“flake, scale”), Danish flage (“flake”), Middle Low German vlage (“a layer of soil”), Old English flōh (“a frament, piece”).
PronunciationEdit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈflɔː/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈflɔ/
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /ˈflɑ/
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Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɔː
- Homophone: floor (in non-rhotic accents with the horse–hoarse merger)
NounEdit
flaw (plural flaws)
- (obsolete) A flake, fragment, or shiver.
- (obsolete) A thin cake, as of ice.
- A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.
- There is a flaw in that knife.
- That vase has a flaw.
- Shakespeare
- This heart / Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws.
- A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.
- South
- Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?
- South
- (law) A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid or ineffective.
- a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute
SynonymsEdit
- See also Wikisaurus:defect
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
crack or breach
defect, fault
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VerbEdit
flaw (third-person singular simple present flaws, present participle flawing, simple past and past participle flawed)
- (transitive) To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
- (intransitive) To become imperfect or defective.
TranslationsEdit
to add a flaw to
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to become imperfect
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Etymology 2Edit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
flaw (plural flaws)
- A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration.
- Milton
- Snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw.
- Tennyson
- Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn.
- Milton
- A storm of short duration.
- A sudden burst of noise and disorder; a tumult; uproar; a quarrel.
- Dryden
- And deluges of armies from the town / Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw.
- Dryden
TranslationsEdit
burst of wind
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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