- The definition of a flake is a small piece of something, or is slang for an unreliable person.
- An example of a flake is a sliver of chocolate.
- An example of a flake is a person who does not show up to complete his volunteer activities.
- Flake is defined as to peel or chip off.
An example of flake is splitting wood into chips.
Flakes of snow
- a small, thin mass: a flake of snow
- a thin piece or layer split off or peeled off from anything; chip
- ☆ Slang an eccentric, unbalanced, or irrational person
Origin of flakeMiddle English ; from Scandinavian as in Norwegian flak, ice floe, Old Norse flakna, to flake off ; from Indo-European an unverified form plāg, flat ; from base an unverified form plā- from source plain
Origin of flakeMiddle English flake, fleke ; from Old Norse flaki, fleki, hurdle ; from Indo-European base an unverified form pel-, to cover from source fell
- to fall asleep
- to faint
- A flat thin piece or layer; a chip.
- Archaeology A stone fragment removed from a core or from another flake by percussion or pressure, serving as a preform or as a tool or blade itself.
- A small piece; a bit.
- A small crystalline bit of snow.
- Slang A somewhat eccentric person; an oddball.
- Slang Cocaine.
verbflaked flaked, flak·ing, flakes
- To remove a flake or flakes from; chip.
- To cover, mark, or overlay with or as if with flakes.
Origin of flakeMiddle English; see plāk-1 in Indo-European roots.
- A frame or platform for drying fish or produce.
- A scaffold lowered over the side of a ship to support workers or caulkers.
Origin of flakeMiddle English fleke, from Old Norse fleki, hurdle, shield used for defense in battle; see plāk-1 in Indo-European roots.
- A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything; a film; flock; lamina; layer; scale; as, a flake of snow, paint, or fish.
- There were a few flakes of paint on the floor from when we were painting the walls.
- flakes of dandruff
- (archaeology) A prehistoric tool chipped out of stone.
- (informal) A person who is impractical, flighty, unreliable, or inconsistent; especially with maintaining a living.
- She makes pleasant conversation, but she's kind of a flake when it comes time for action.
- A carnation with only two colours in the flower, the petals having large stripes.
(third-person singular simple present flakes, present participle flaking, simple past and past participle flaked)
- To break or chip off in a flake.
- The paint flaked off after only a year.
- (colloquial) To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through.
- He said he'd come and help, but he flaked.
- (technical) To store an item such as rope in layers
- The line is flaked into the container for easy attachment and deployment.
- (Ireland, slang) to hit (another person).
From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English *flacca, from Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pele- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”).
- (UK) Dogfish.
- (Australia) The meat of the gummy shark.
A name given to dogfish to improve its marketability as a food, perhaps from etymology 1.
Compare Icelandic flaki?, fleki?, Danish flage, Dutch vlaak.