From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Flat \Flat\ (fl[a^]t), adjective [Compar. {Flatter} (fl[a^]t"r[~e]r); superl. {Flattest} (fl[a^]t"t[e^]st).] [Akin to Icel. flatr, Sw. flat, Dan. flad, OHG. flaz, and AS. flet floor, G. fl["o]tz 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. --Shak.
6. Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull; as, the market is flat.
7. Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright.
Flat burglary as ever was committed. --Shak.
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.
10. (Golf) Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft; -- said of a club. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
11. (Gram.) Not having an inflectional ending or sign, as a noun used as an adjective, or an adjective as an adverb, without the addition of a formative suffix, or an infinitive without the sign to. Many flat adverbs, as in run fast, buy cheap, are from AS. adverbs in -["e], the loss of this ending having made them like the adjectives. Some having forms in ly, such as exceeding, wonderful, true, are now archaic. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
12. (Hort.) Flattening at the ends; -- said of certain fruits. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
{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.
Note: 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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Flatter \Flat"ter\ (fl[a^]t"t[~e]r), noun
1. One who, or that which, makes flat or flattens.
2. (Metal Working) (a) A flat-faced fulling hammer. (b) A drawplate with a narrow, rectangular orifice, for drawing flat strips, as watch springs, etc.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Flatter \Flat"ter\ (fl[a^]t"t[~e]r), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Flattered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Flattering}.] [OE. flateren, cf. OD. flatteren; akin to G. flattern to flutter, Icel. fla[eth]ra to fawn, flatter: cf. F. flatter. Cf. {Flitter}, {Flutter}, {Flattery}.]
1. To treat with praise or blandishments; to gratify or attempt to gratify the self-love or vanity of, esp. by artful and interested commendation or attentions; to blandish; to cajole; to wheedle.
When I tell him he hates flatterers, He says he does, being then most flattered. --Shak.
A man that flattereth his neighbor, spreadeth a net for his feet. --Prov. xxix. 5.
Others he flattered by asking their advice. --Prescott.
2. To raise hopes in; to encourage or favorable, but sometimes unfounded or deceitful, representations.
3. To portray too favorably; to give a too favorable idea of; as, his portrait flatters him.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Flatter \Flat"ter\, verb (used without an object) To use flattery or insincere praise.
If it may stand him more in stead to lie, Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or adjure. --Milton.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: having a horizontal surface in which no part is higher or lower than another; "a flat desk"; "acres of level farmland"; "a plane surface" [syn: {level}, {plane}]
2: having no depth or thickness
3: not modified or restricted by reservations; "a categorical denial"; "a flat refusal" [syn: {categoric}, {categorical}, {unconditional}]
4: stretched out and lying at full length along the ground; "found himself lying flat on the floor" [syn: {prostrate}]
5: lacking contrast or shading between tones [ant: {contrasty}]
6: lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone; "B flat" [ant: {natural}, {sharp}]
7: flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain leafstalks or flatfishes) [syn: {compressed}]
8: lacking taste or flavor or tang; "a bland diet"; "insipid hospital food"; "flavorless supermarket tomatoes"; "vapid beer"; "vapid tea" [syn: {bland}, {flavorless}, {flavourless}, {insipid}, {savorless}, {savourless}, {vapid}]
9: lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting; "a bland little drama"; "a flat joke" [syn: {bland}]
10: having lost effervescence; "flat beer"; "a flat cola"
11: not increasing as the amount taxed increases [syn: {fixed}]
12: not made with leavening; "most flat breads are made from unleavened dough" [syn: {unraised}]
13: parallel to the ground; "a flat roof"
14: without pleats [syn: {unpleated}]
15: lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an illusion or depth; "a film with two-dimensional characters"; "a flat two-dimensional painting" [syn: {two-dimensional}]
16: (of a tire) completely or partially deflated
17: not reflecting light; not glossy; "flat wall paint"; "a photograph with a matte finish" [syn: {mat}, {matt}, {matte}, {matted}]
18: lacking variety in shading; "a flat unshaded painting"
noun
2: a shallow box in which seedlings are started
3: a musical notation indicating one half step lower than the note named
4: freight car without permanent sides or roof [syn: {flatcar}, {flatbed}]
5: a deflated pneumatic tire [syn: {flat tire}]
6: scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted canvas; part of a stage setting
7: a suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house [syn: {apartment}]
adverb
1: at full length; "he fell flat on his face"
2: with flat sails; "sail flat against the wind"
3: below the proper pitch; "she sang flat last night"
4: against a flat surface; "he lay flat on his back"
5: in a forthright manner; candidly or frankly; "he didn't answer directly"; "told me straight out"; "came out flat for less work and more pay" [syn: {directly}, {straight}] [ant: {indirectly}]
6: wholly or completely; "He is flat broke" [also: {flatting}, {flatted}, {flattest}, {flatter}]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
verb
1: praise somewhat dishonestly [syn: {blandish}] [ant: {disparage}]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
88 Moby Thesaurus words for "flatter": adorn, adulate, apotheosize, beautify, become, beguile, belaud, bend the knee, bepraise, beslobber, beslubber, blandish, bless, blow up, boast of, bootlick, bow, bow and scrape, brag about, brown-nose, butter up, cajole, celebrate, coax, complement, compliment, conceit, court, cower, crawl, creep, cringe, crouch, cry up, decorate, deify, embellish, emblazon, enhance, eulogize, exalt, extol, fawn, fawn upon, finish, flannel, glorify, grovel, hero-worship, idolize, inveigle, kneel, kowtow, laud, lick the dust, lickspittle, lionize, magnify, make fair weather, make much of, oil, oil the tongue, ornament, overpraise, palaver, panegyrize, pay tribute, perfect, play up to, porter aux nues, praise, puff, puff up, salute, shine up to, slobber over, soft-soap, stoop, suck up to, suit, sweet-talk, toadeat, toady, toady to, truckle, truckle to, trumpet, wheedle
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