FLATTERING
flattering
(adjective) showing or representing to advantage; “a flattering color”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
flattering (comparative more flattering, superlative most flattering)
Attractive or good-looking; that makes one look good
Synonym: becoming
Antonyms: unbecoming, unflattering
Verb
flattering
present participle of flatter
Noun
flattering (plural flatterings)
The action of the verb to flatter.
Instances of flattery.
Synonyms
• flattery
• soft sawder
Source: Wiktionary
Flat"ter*ing, a.
Definition: That flatters (in the various senses of the verb); as, a
flattering speech.
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul. Shak.
A flattering painter, who made it his care, To draw men as they ought
be, not as they are. Goldsmith.
FLATTER
Flat"ter, n.
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.
Flat"ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Flattered; p. pr. & vb. n. Flattering.]
Etym: [OE. flateren, cf. OD. flatteren; akin to G. flattern to
flutter, Icel. fla 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.
Flat"ter, v. i.
Definition: To use flattery or insincere praise.
If it may stand him more in stead to lie, Say and unsay, feign,
flatter, or adjure. Milton.
FLAT
Flat, a. [Compar. Flatter; superl. Flattest.] Etym: [Akin to Icel.
flatr, Sw. flat, Dan. flad, OHG. flaz, and AS. flet floor, G. flötz
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)
Definition: 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)
Definition: Sonant; vocal; -- applied to any one of the sonant or vocal
consonants, as distinguished from a nonsonant (or sharp) consonant.
Flat arch. (Arch.) See under Arch, n., 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.
Flat, adv.
1. In a flat manner; directly; flatly.
Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty. Herbert.
2. (Stock Exchange)
Definition: Without allowance for accrued interest. [Broker's Cant]
Flat, n.
1. A level surface, without elevation, relief, or prominences; an
extended plain; specifically, in the United States, a level tract
along the along the banks of a river; as, the Mohawk Flats.
Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising
ground, than upon a flat. Bacon.
2. A level tract lying at little depth below the surface of water, or
alternately covered and left bare by the tide; a shoal; a shallow; a
strand.
Half my power, this night Passing these flats, are taken by the tide.
Shak.
3. Something broad and flat in form; as:
(a) A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught.
(b) A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned.
(c) (Railroad Mach.) A car without a roof, the body of which is a
platform without sides; a platform car.
(d) A platform on wheel, upon which emblematic designs, etc., are
carried in processions.
4. The flat part, or side, of anything; as, the broad side of a
blade, as distinguished from its edge.
5. (Arch.)
Definition: A floor, loft, or story in a building; especially, a floor of a
house, which forms a complete residence in itself.
6. (Mining)
Definition: A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein;
also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.
Raymond.
7. A dull fellow; a simpleton; a numskull. [Colloq.]
Or if you can not make a speech, Because you are a flat. Holmes.
8. (Mus.)
Definition: A character [] before a note, indicating a tone which is a half
step or semitone lower.
9. (Geom.)
Definition: A homaloid space or extension.
Flat, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Flatted; p. pr. & vb. n. Flatting.]
1. To make flat; to flatten; to level.
2. To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.
Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted. Barrow.
3. To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in
pitch by half a tone.
Flat, v. i.
1. To become flat, or flattened; to sink or fal to an even surface.
Sir W. Temple.
2. (Mus.)
Definition: To fall form the pitch. To flat out, to fail from a promising
beginning; to make a bad ending; to disappoint expectations.
[Colloq.]
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition