flank
Part of speech: verb
noun
adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: anatomy
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Etymology: From Late Middle English flanc, from Late Old English flanc (“flank”), from Old French flanc, of Germanic origin, probably Frankish *hlanca, from Proto-West Germanic *hlanku (“bend, curve, hip, flank”), from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“flexible, sleek, bendsome”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng- (“to bend”). Akin to Old High German hlanca (“loin”), Middle Low German lanke (“hip joint”) (German lenken (“to bend, turn, lead”)), Old English hlanc (“loose, slender, flaccid, lank”). More at lank.
Inflected forms:
form: flanks
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: flanking
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: flanked
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: flanked
pos: verb
tags: past
form: flanck
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: flanks
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: flanck
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: flanck
pos: adj
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: To attack the flank(s) of.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To defend the flank(s) of.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To place to the side(s) of.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Stately colonnades are flank'd with trees.
[...] Mr. M. N. Rollason points out that on four-track lines on which the fast lines, in the centre, are flanked by the slow lines, and running at speed is permissible on all four, the traveller can enjoy some quite exciting experiences when trains are doing a "neck-and-neck" on adjacent lines.
It was a rural railway that served the fertile Fens of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. But because it flanked public roads and was unfenced (to save costs), it was deemed a tramway and its locomotives had to be fitted with a cowcatcher.
gloss: To be placed to the side(s) of something (usually in terms of two objects, one on each side).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: The lateral flesh between the last rib and the hip.
pos: noun
examples: Holonym: side
gloss: A cut of meat from the flank of an animal.
pos: noun
gloss: The extreme left or right edge of a military formation, army etc.
pos: noun
gloss: The sides of a bastion perpendicular to the wall from which the bastion projects.
pos: noun
gloss: The side of something, in general senses.
pos: noun
examples: Cautiously I approached the flank of the cliffs, where they terminated in an abrupt escarpment as though some all powerful hand had broken off a great section of rock and set it upon the surface of the earth.
Ahead the flanks of the Pennines gleamed faintly in the moonlight, looking as though they themselves were part of some dry and deserted lunar landscape.
gloss: Either of the two pockets located on the seat of a pair of pants.
pos: noun
examples: I took the quarter and hid it in my right flank.
gloss: An ideological faction within a political party.
pos: noun
examples: Ford survived a primary challenge in 1976 from the right flank of the Republican Party by Ronald Reagan.
gloss: The outermost strip of a road.
pos: noun
gloss: The wing, one side of the pitch.
pos: noun
examples: The hosts also had Paul Robinson to thank for a string of saves, three of them coming against Jerome Thomas, who gave Michel Salgado a torrid time down the left flank.
gloss: That part of the acting surface of a gear wheel tooth that lies within the pitch line.
pos: noun
gloss: Maximum. Historically faster than full speed (the most a vessel can sustain without excessive engine wear or risk of damage), now frequently used interchangeably. Typically used in an emergency or during an attack.
pos: adj
tags: US
not-comparable
examples: All ahead flank!
Synonyms: straddle
Related words: flank eruption
flank speed
oblique flank
Derived words: flankable
flanker
outflank
flankwise
Translations: