flat
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: flăt
ipa: /flæt/
rhymes: -æt
Forms: form: flats
Etymology: From Middle English flat, a borrowing from Old Norse flatr (compare Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from Proto-Germanic *flataz, from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”); akin to Saterland Frisian flot (“smooth”), German Flöz (“a geological layer”), Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), Latvian plats, Sanskrit प्रथस् (prathas, “extension”). Doublet of plat and pleyt.
The noun is from Middle English flat (“level piece of ground, flat edge of a weapon”), from the adjective.
The algebraic sense was coined by Serre in a 1956 paper, originally as French plat.
Senses: examples: text: The hovercraft skimmed across the open flats.
text: the eastern end of the salt flat; mud flat, tidal flat, flood flat
text: Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat.
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Envy”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
text: My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
glosses: An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water).
examples: I can run on the flat but not up hills.
The going will be easier once we're through these mountains and onto the flat.
glosses: An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water).
Level ground in general.
raw_tags: in the phrase 'the flat'
examples: text: This horse will do better over the flat.
text: flat racing, the flat season
text: In light of Horse Racing Ireland's Covid-19 contingency plan announcement, that whenever racing resumes the Flat will be given priority, Elliott has decided to keep a number of talented jumpers on the go during the summer, with a view towards a dual-purpose campaign.
ref: 2020, Brian Sheerin, Racing Post, "Gordon Elliott maps out summer Flat campaigns for talented jumpers" (article) https://www.racingpost.com/news/gordon-elliott-maps-out-summer-flat-campaigns-for-talented-jumpers/431475
text: 2021 (retrieved), racing365.com, "Flat Racing Explained" https://racing365.com/flat-racing-explained/
In British horse racing, the classics are a series of horse races run over the flat (i.e. without jumps).
topics: hobbies
horse-racing
horseracing
horses
lifestyle
pets
racing
sports
glosses: An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water).
Level horse-racing ground, as contrasted with courses incorporating jumps, or the racing done on such ground.
raw_tags: with 'the' or attributively
with capital
examples: text: As forecast, Joe suspected nothing as he pottered round the flat in the sunshine, absorbed in the task of picking winners.
ref: 1963, George Blaikie, Scandals of Australia's Strange Past, Adelaide: Rigby Limited, page 117:
topics: hobbies
horse-racing
horseracing
horses
lifestyle
pets
racing
sports
glosses: An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water).
the area in the centre of a racecourse.
raw_tags: with 'the' or attributively
with capital
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water).
The areas behind the line of scrimmage to either side of an offensive football formation.
examples: text: The key of E♭ has three flats.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A note played one chromatic semitone lower than a natural, denoted by the symbol ♭ placed after the letter representing the note (e.g., B♭) or in front of the note symbol (e.g. ♭♪).
examples: text: The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent.
ref: 2012 July 15, Richard Williams, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track, Guardian Unlimited:
topics: automotive
transport
vehicles
glosses: A flat tyre/flat tire.
examples: text: She liked to walk in her flats more than in her high heels.
glosses: A type of ladies' shoe with a very low heel.
glosses: A type of flat-soled running shoe without spikes.
qualifier: painting
glosses: A thin, broad brush used in oil and watercolour painting.
examples: text: The outboard bales in each tier should be placed on their edges so that their flats will be presented to the sweat battens. This precaution is necessary to lessen the damage in case of chafage. If the bales chafe or become wet on their flats, only one or two layers will be damaged.
ref: 2024, Robert J. Meurn, Marine Cargo Operations:
glosses: The most prominent flat part of something.
glosses: The most prominent flat part of something.
The flat side of a blade, as opposed to the sharp edge.
glosses: The most prominent flat part of something.
The palm of the hand, with the adjacent part of the fingers.
examples: text: a flat of strawberries
glosses: A wide, shallow container or pallet.
examples: text: Waiter: Would you like sparkling or flat? Guest: Flat, thank you.
glosses: Ellipsis of flat water (“nonfizzy drinking water”).
qualifier: postal
glosses: A large mail piece measuring at least 8 1/2 by 11 inches, such as catalogs, magazines, and unfolded paper enclosed in large envelopes.
examples: text: For example, when trailers containing new automobiles were first piggybacked two areas of potential damage became evident: (1) diesel locomotive exhaust left a film of oil on the new autos; and (2) auto windshields could be scarred or cracked by the metal-tipped "tell-tales" which warn men atop trains of oncoming bridges or tunnels. Accordingly, automobiles aboard piggyback flats are usually coupled into the train 15 or more cars behind the locomotive; and telltales have been raised.
ref: 1960 November, David Morgan, “"Piggyback"—U.S. success story”, in Trains Illustrated, page 684:
topics: rail-transport
railways
transport
glosses: A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car or flatcar.
examples: text: The tender roared along vibrating vigorously; braking had resulted in "flats" on most of its tyres.
ref: 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 706:
topics: rail-transport
railways
transport
glosses: A flat spot on the wheel of a rail vehicle.
glosses: A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught.
topics: geometry
mathematics
sciences
glosses: A subset of n-dimensional space that is congruent to a Euclidean space of lower dimension.
glosses: A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned.
examples: text: You might think that Americans buy roughly the same number of fitted sheets as flats. Or, considering the market for electric blankets, duvets, and other covers, that consumers buy even more bottom sheets, simply forgoing the tops.
ref: 1986, New York Magazine, volume 19, number 49, page 20:
glosses: A flat sheet for use on a bed.
examples: text: This same publisher notes pricing is a crucial factor in the mass market field of $1, $1.95 and $2.95 "flats."
ref: 1970, The Publishers Weekly, volume 197, page 85:
topics: media
publishing
glosses: A flat, glossy children's book with few pages.
glosses: A platform on a wheel, upon which emblematic designs etc. are carried in processions.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
technical
qualifier: theatre
glosses: A rectangular wooden structure covered with masonite, lauan, or muslin, often produced in standard modules, that is used to build wall surfaces on stage. Flats can be painted and outfitted with doors and/or windows to depict a building or other part of a scene, and are a hard-surfaced alternative to a backcloth or backdrop.
topics: biology
entomology
natural-sciences
glosses: Any of various hesperiid butterflies that spread their wings open when they land.
examples: text: Among the many US museums hosting flats, we may mention the Toy Soldier Museum in the Pocono Mountains, supervised by the historian, collector and dealer J. Hillestad.
ref: 2019, Luigi Toiati, The History of Toy Soldiers, page 78:
glosses: An early kind of toy soldier having a flat design.
examples: text: […] if you cannot make a speech,
Because you are a flat,
Go very quietly and drop
A button in the hat!
ref: 1836, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Music-Grinders:
text: "He fancies he can play at billiards," said he. "I won two hundred of him at the Cocoa-Tree. HE play, the young flat! […]"
ref: 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 14, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
glosses: A dull fellow; a simpleton.
glosses: Ellipsis of flat ride (“spinning amusement ride”).
examples: text: "When sampling the aperture of a telescope, using auto-collimating flats (ACFs) is more economical"
ref: 2013 April 1, Spechler et al., “Advanced Dispersed Fringe Sensing Algorithm for Coarse Phasing Segmented Mirror Telescopes”, in NASA Tech Briefs, retrieved 27 Dec 2021:
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
optics
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: A flat (i.e. plane) mirror
examples: text: He would slip in his six-ace flats, shaved dice that were made to bring up sevens. He'd throw them just long enough to get well, and then replace them with legitimate cubes.
ref: 2005, Fred Cicetti, Local Angles: The Big News in Small Towns, page 78:
topics: gambling
games
glosses: A cheater's die with the edges shaved to make certain rolls more likely.
glosses: A 24-case of beer.
Derived terms: alkali flat
Ash Flat
ballet flat
Broadway flat
Captains Flat
container flat
dead flat
demiflat
double flat
dusk-flat
false flat
flat joint
flat lad
flat passer
flat store
Halls Flat
Hollywood flat
Hollywood-style flat
mahogany flat
mudflat
mud flat
on the flat
optical flat
salt flat
sandflat
six-ace flat
stage flat
tidal flat
tideflat
wheel flat