Wiktionary

flaw

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

NounEdit

flaw (plural flaws)

  1. (obsolete) A flake, fragment, or shiver.
  2. (obsolete) A thin cake, as of ice.
  3. 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.
  4. A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.
    • 1698, Robert South, Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions
      Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?
    1. (in particular) An inclusion, stain, or other defect of a diamond or other gemstone.
    2. (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
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

flaw (third-person singular simple present flaws, present participle flawing, simple past and past participle flawed)

  1. (transitive) To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
  2. (intransitive) To become imperfect or defective; to crack or break.
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

Probably Middle Dutch vlāghe or Middle Low German vlāge.[1] Or, of North Germanic origin, from Swedish flaga (“gust of wind”), from Old Norse flaga;[2] all from Proto-Germanic *flagōn-. See modern Dutch vlaag (“gust of wind”).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

flaw (plural flaws)

  1. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration; windflaw.
  2. A storm of short duration.
  3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder
    Synonyms: tumult, uproar, quarrel
    • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe
      And deluges of armies from the town / Come pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw.
TranslationsEdit
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

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
  2. ^ “flaw” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

AnagramsEdit

Sranan TongoEdit

VerbEdit

flaw

  1. To faint.
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