flinder
See also: flinders
English
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editFrom Middle English flendris, of North Germanic origin, from or related to Norwegian flindra, from Proto-Germanic *flintaz, from Proto-Indo-European *splind- (“to split, cleave”).
Alternative forms
edit- flender (Scotland)
Noun
editflinder (plural flinders)
- A small piece or fragment; a thin slice; splinter
- 1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXV, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 273:
- “It’s to swear to stand by one another, and never tell the gang’s secrets, even if you’re chopped all to flinders, and kill anybody and all his family that hurts one of the gang.”
Etymology 2
editFrom Middle English flindre. Compare Dutch vlinder.
Noun
editflinder (plural flinders)
Verb
editflinder (third-person singular simple present flinders, present participle flindering, simple past and past participle flindered)
- (intransitive) To flirt; run about in a fluttering manner
Further reading
edit- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “flinder”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from North Germanic languages
- English terms derived from Norwegian
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English dialectal terms
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Butterflies