flip-flap, a fly-flapper, for driving away flies. Dekker, O. Fortunatus, i. 2 (Andelocia); flyp-flap, a lap of a garment, Skelton, Elynour Rummyng, 508.
flirt, flert, to throw with a jerk, to jerk, fillip. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii (ed. Arber, 84); Drayton, Pol. vi. 50; to move with a jerk, to dart, to take short quick flights, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i (ed. Arber, 31).
flirt-gill, flurt-gill, flurt-gillian, a woman of light behaviour, a flirt. Romeo, ii. 4. 162; Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, iv. 1 (Wife); flurt-Gillian, The Chances, iii. 1 (Landlady). ‘Gill’ and ‘Gillian’ are forms of the Christian-name ‘Juliana’.
flitter-mouse, a bat. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 2 (Alken); Alchemist, v. 2 (Subtle). In common prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
flix, fur of the hare. Dryden, Annus Mirab. 132. Also applied to other animals; ‘the flix of goat’, Dyer, The Fleece, bk. iv, l. 104. In prov. use for the fur of a hare, rabbit, or cat, see EDD. (s.v. Flick, sb.3).
float, flow, flood of the tide. Ford, Love’s Sacr. ii. 3; in float, at high water, ‘Hee being now in Float for Treasure’, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 128); Middleton, Span. Gipsy, i. 5 (Rod). See [flote] (wave).
flocket, a loose garment with long sleeves. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 53.
Florentine, a kind of pie; meat baked in a dish, with a cover of paste. Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, v. 1 (Lazarillo); ‘I went to Florence, from whence we have the art of making custards, which are therefore called Florentines’, Wit’s Interpreter (Nares).
flote, a fleet. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 142, back, 31; 216, back, 1; Hakluyt, Voy. i. 296, l. 2; spelt floate, Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 135. OE. flota, a ship, fleet (BT.).
flote, a wave, billow; also, the sea; ‘The Mediterranean Flote’, Tempest, i. 2. 234; ‘The flotes of the see’, Caxton, Jason, 114 (NED.). OF. flot, a wave (Hatzfeld); cp. OE. flot, the sea (Sweet).