flote, to skim milk, to take off the cream. Tusser, Husbandry, § 49. 1. See EDD. (s.v. Float, vb. 16).

flower-de-luce, the ‘fleur-de-lis’, a plant of the genus Iris. Tusser, Husbandry, § 43. 11; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 16; Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 127; also, the heraldic lily, the armorial emblem of France, 1 Hen. VI, i. 1. 80.

flown: ‘The Sons of Belial, flown with insolence and wine’, Milton, P. L. i. 502; ‘Flowen with wine’, Ussher, Ann, vi. 250 (NED.). ‘Flown’ was orig. used of a stream in full flow, ‘in flood’; ‘Cedron . . . in wynter . . . is mervaylously flowen with rage of water’, Guilford’s Pilgrimage (ed. Camden Soc. 31). See NED. (s.v. Flow, vb. 11 b).

†fluce, to flounce, plunge; ‘They [cattle] backward fluce and fling’, Drayton, The Moon-calf, 1352. Not found elsewhere.

flue, flew, an air-passage, a tube or pipe. In NED. (s.v. Flue, sb.3) is this note:—‘The following passage is usually quoted as the earliest example of the word, which is supposed to mean here the spiral cavity of a shell. But flue is probably a misprint for flute. [The quotation follows]: 1562, Phaer, Aeneid x [l. 209 of Lat. text] With whelkid shell Whoes wrinckly wreathed flue, did fearful shril in seas outyell.’ But this suggestion cannot be right; for the word occurs again in a parallel passage, where the spelling is flew, occurring at the end of a line, and riming with blew; viz. ‘Dolphins blew, And Tritons blowe their Trumpes, yt sounds in seas wt dropping flew,’ Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, v. 824.

fluence, a flowing stream. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 224; also, fluency, Heywood, Fair Maid of the Exchange (Works, vol. ii, p. 86).

flundering, ‘floundering’, plunging and tossing; ‘Th’ unruly flundring steeds’, H. More, Song of Soul, i. 1. 17; Chapman, Gent. Usher, i. 1 (Vincentio); the word makes no sense here, for the passage is intentional nonsense. But it’s a loud-sounding and impressive word.

†flundge, fly out, are flung out. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 59. An onomatopoeic word, not found elsewhere.

flurt at, to sneer at, to scoff at. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2. 19; Beaumont and Fl., Rule a Wife, iii. 2; id., Pilgrim, i. 1; iii. 1; Wild Goose Chase, ii. 1. See NED. (s.v. Flirt, vb. 4 a).

flush, a term at primero; when a player held four cards of the same colour. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Face). See [five-and-fifty].