The monster, ready on the pray to sease,
Was of his forward hope deceiued quight;
Ne durst assay to wade the perlous seas,
But greedily long gaping at the sight,
At last in vaine was fore't to turne his flight,
And tell the idle tydings to his dame.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 7. Cup. Oyes, here be all sorts, flights, rovers, and butt-shafts. B. Jonson. Cynthia's Revels, Act v. sc. 10.

But (2) 'tis alledg'd by some, philosophy disposeth man to despise the Scriptures; or at least to neglect the study of them; and therefore it is to be flighted, and exploded among Christians.-Glanvill, Ess. 4.

And some say also, that the Goddess Latona was not brought to bed between two trees, but between these two springs. For Mount Ptoum is hard by it also, from whence the wild bore came of a sudden that fighted her.

North. Plutarch, p. 245.

At which I ceas'd, and listen'd them awhile,
Till an unusual stop of suddain silence
Gave respit to the drowsy-flighted steeds,
That draw the litter of close-curtain'd Sleep.

FLINCH, v.

FLINCHER. FLINCHING, n.

Either, says Skinner, from the verb to Fling, q.d. to toss himself this way and that, as he usually does who wishes to free himself from the grasp of an enemy; or from the A. S. Fliccerian, to move quickly, to move or shake the wings, as birds do when struggling to free themselves from the net. It is (as fling also is) more probably from the A. S. Fleon, to fly from, i. e. to evade or endeavour to escape from.

To shrink or draw back from, out of the reach of; to withdraw or retreat; to give way, to fail.

He is estemed a joly rufler, that geueth himselfe to ex cessyue ryot: and he is counted a fiyncher that foloweth sobrietie. Udal. James, c. 2.

Well, I shall catch him in a narrow-room,
Where neither of us can flinch. If I do,
I'll make him dance a trenchmore to my sword.
Barry. Ram Alley, Act iii. sc. 1.

To brave Laodocus his arms he Aung, Who near him wheeling, drove his steeds along. Pope. Homer. Iliad, b. xvi. Nay if that had been the worst, I could have borne: but he had a fling at your ladyship too; and then I could not hold: but, 'faith, I gave him his own.

Congreve. The Way of the World, Act lif

The emperour laughed much, but though a lover of the

art, seems to have taken no other notice of Mabuse: whose excesses sometime after occasioned his being flung into prison at Middleburgh. Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting, vol. i. c 3.

Mach. Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits :
The flighty purpose neuer is o'ertooke,
Vnlesse the deed go with it.

Shakespeare. Macbeth, Activ. sc. 1. And the expiration or breathing forth doth not only produce a noise, but the inspiration or haling in of the ayre affordeth a sound that may be heard almost a flight-shot. Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. iii. c. 27.

Now the fabulous antiquitie therefore fitted wings to her, that by her fight-swiftness she might be thought present in all places.-Holland. Ammianus, p. 27.

This man, a certain twofold fortune (as the poets faine) carrying with her flight wings showed unto the world one while a bountifull benefactor and advauncer of his friends to great fortunes, other whiles againe a vengible wayt-layer, and by bloudye grudges and displeasures doing much mischief.-Holland. Ammianus, p. 321.

Me dost thou bid to shun the coming fight?

Me would'st thou move to base inglorious flight?
Know, 'tis not honest in my soul to fear,
Nor was Tydides born to tremble here.

Pope. Homer. Iliad, b. v.

Thoas with grief observ'd his dreadful course;
Thoas, the bravest of th' Etolian force :
Skill'd to direct the javelin's distant flight,
And bold to combat in the standing fight.-Id. Ib. b. xv.

So when a Muse propitiously invites,
Improve her favours, and indulge her flights;
But when you find that vigorous heat abate,
Leave off, and for another summons wait.

Roscommon. An Essay on Translated Verse.

P. Serv. Hang'em, flinchers, they slunk away as soon as they had drank as much as they were able to carry, which no generous spirit would ha' done indeed.

Tailor. The Hog hath Lost his Pearl, Act v. Yeo. Believ't, sir; But make this good upon us you have promis'd, You shall not find us flinchers.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Bloody Brother, Act i. sc. 1. But the tribunes of the commons thought they would prevent and meet with this flinching of his and absenting himself, by intimation of another act and law provided in that behalf, namely, that if he entred not into the cittie of Rome before the ides of November immediately following, it should be lawfull for C. Licinius to proceed in judgment, and give sentence against him in his absence. Holland. Livivs, p. 1127.

Glos. Upon the instant,
Lord Hastings will be here; this morn I mean
To prove him to the quick, then if he flinch
No more but this, away with him at once,
He must be mine or nothing.-Rowe. Jane Shore, Act iii.

The grave abhor the gay, the gay the sad,
And formalists pronounce the witty mad,
The sot, who drinks six bottles in a place,
Swears at the flinchers who refuse their glass.

Pitt. Epistle to Mr. Spence.

Those to whom terrors would be most serviceable, being persons of strong spirits, sanguine complexions, and hardy constitutions, able to bear a bang or burn without flinching, are litte touched with bodily pains,

If, after descending a flight of stairs, we attempt inadvertently to take another step in the manner of the former

Burke. On the Sublime and Beautiful, pt. iv. s. 17.

The fighty gambols of chance are objects of no science, nor grounds of any dependance whatever.

Search. Light of Nature, vol. iii. pt. ii. c. 26.

I cannot yet be quite out of conceit with my flightiness, because but for that perhaps I had not enjoyed the pleasure of your conversation here.-Id. Ib. vol. ii. pt. ii. c. 24.

FLIM-FLAM, i. e. Flam-flam.

Aer. This is a pretty flim flam.

See FLAM.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Little French Lawyer, Act ii. sc. 1

Most think what has been heap'd on you,
To other sort of folk was due:
Rewards too great for your flim-flams.

Swift. A Christmas Box for Dr. Delany.

FLIMSY. Perhaps from Flim or Flam,
FLIMSINESS. (qv.) And thus-
Having the slightness, the weakness, of a mere
flam or fable: slight, weak, forceless.

Destroy his fib or sophistry, in vain,
The creature's at his dirty work again,
Thron'd on the center of his thin designs,
Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines.

Pope. Prologue to the Satires.

from Flying, q.d. to set a thing flying. Serenius says, Sueth. Flenga, jacere, item cum præcipi

tantiâ ferri."

To cause to fly, to throw, to cast; (met.) to
throw or east, a sarcasın, a scoff, a taunt.
The buck in brake his winter coate he flings.
Surrey. Description of Spring.

Then dartes we gan to fling
in wide and weightless skies:
And then the fiercest fight of all
and combat did arise.

Turbervile. An Aunswere in Disprayse of Wit. Not one kynge hath bene in Englande sens the conquest, but they haue twygged hym one way or other, and had theyr false flynges at him.-Bale. Apology, fol. 142.

The naked nymphs, some up some down descending,
Small scatt'ring flow'rs at one another flung,
With nimble turns their limber bodies bending,
Cropping the blooming branches lately sprung.
Drayton. The Barons' Wars, b. vi.
On thir heads

Main promontories flung, which in the air
Came shadowing, and opprest whole legions arm'd.
Milton. Paradise Lost, b. vi.
Fresh gales and gentle aires
Whisper'd it to the woods, and from their wings
Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub,
Disporting.
Id. Ib. b. viii.
Quart. If I had staid, they had paid me for a captain.
Sale. They had a fling at me..

Mayne. The City Match. Act iii. sc. 2.

But so dissolute they [Persian] be and with the loosenesse of their joynts and wandering pace they keepe such a flinging of themselves, and jetting in their gate, that a man would take them to be meere effeminate, whereas indeed

they be most fierce warriors, but rather wylie in cunning flight, than hardie in manly fight.

Holland. Ammianus, p 217.

And out of fent sprange flod. that folke and bestes dronken. Piers Plouhman, p. 257.

Which when I heard, and saw how he himself fordid Against the ground with bloody strokes himself euen there to rid;

Had ben my heart of fint it must haue melted tho,
For in my life I neuer saw a man so full of wo.

Surrey. The Complaint of a Dying Lover, &c.
The firmest flint doth in continuance weare:
Yet cannot I, with many a dropping teare
And long intreatie, soften her hard heart;

That she will once vouchsafe my plaint to heare Or look with pity on my paineful smart.-Spenser, s. 18. From those two stars such streams of lightning glide, As through men's eyes do pierce the flintiest heart, Which thou by closing striv'st in vain to hide, For through their lids their subtle rays do dart.

Drayton. The Legend of Matilda the Fair Pas. The more I admire your flintiness: What cause have I given you, illustrious madam, To play this strange part with me.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Nice Valour, Act i. sc. 1 Under the conduct of Great Soliman, Have I been chief commander of an host, And put the flint-heart Persians to the sword.

Tragedy of Soliman & Perseeda. Or wherefore did not thankfulness step forth, To urge my many merits, which I may Object unto you, since you prove ungrateful, Flint-hearted Charalois.

Massinger. The Fatal Dowry, Act iv. sc. 4 Shake earth, and at the presence be aghast Of him that ever was, and ay shall last, That glassy floods from rugged rocks can crush, And make soft rills from fiery flint-stones gush.

Milton, Psalm 114.

So stubborn flints their inward heat conceal
Till art and force th' unwilling sparks reveal,
But thro' your skill, from those small seeds of fire
Bright flames arise, which never can expire.
Congreve. To Mr. Dryden on his Translation of Persius.
My flinty heart,

That barren rock on which thy father starv'd,
Opens its springs of nourishment to thee.

Southerne. The Fatal Marriage, Act v. sc. 1. If it be certain the gun I make tryal of will go off, then the flint will certainly strike fire; and in general the cer tainty of events infers the certainty of all causes operating to produce them.

Search. Light of Nature, vol. ii. pt. iii. c. 26.

Is the poor labourer to be abandoned to the flinty heart and griping hand of base self-interest, supported by the sword of law, especially when there is reason to suppose that the very avarice of farmers themselves has concurred with the errors of government to bring famine on the land. Burke. Thoughts and Details on Scarcity. Where glossy pebbles pave the varied floors, And rough flint-walls are deck'd with shells and ores. Scott, Epistle 1. The Garden.

FLIP, i. e. FILLIP, (qv.)

As when your little ones Doe 'twixt their fingers flip their cherry stones. Browne. Britannia's Pastorals, b. ii. s. 3. When its under question, 'twere as good flip cross and pile, as to dispute for't: and to play a game at chess for an opinion in philosophy (as myself and an ingenious friend have sometimes sported) is as likely a way to determine. Glanvill. The Vanity of Dogmatizing, c. 16.

FLIPPANCY. Not in our older LexicoFLIPPANT. graphers. Perhaps from FLIPPANTLY. filliping; having the n.mojo motion of any thing filliped.

Nimble, quick, pertly heedless.

As for your mother, she was wise, a most flippant tongue ! she had.-Chapman. All Fools, Act v. sc. 1.

It very ill becomes this gentleman, when he has such Brge scores of his own, and while he bends under the weight of many insuperable objections, to grow so exceeding flippant, and above measure assuming, upon the strength only of two or three stale cavils, borrowed from ancient heresies. Waterland. Works, vol. iv. p. 12. But this flippancy of language proves nothing but the passion of the men who have indulged themselves in it. Hurd. Works, vol. v. Ser. 7.

I should have considered all this as no more than a sort of flippant vain discourse, in which, as in an unsavoury fume, several persons suffer the spirit of liberty to evapo rate, if it were not in support of the idea, and a part of the scheme of "cashiering kings for misconduct." Burke. On the French Revolution.

FLIRT, v. FLIRT, n. FLIRT, adj. FLIRTATION.

See To FLEER; from which Flirt or Flurt is probably de

"To flit,-to remove. Two fittings are as bad as one fire, i. e. household goods are as much injured by two removals as by one fire. North." (Grose.) See also Mr. Brockett.

And fitlynge fond ich the frere. that me confessede.
Piers Plouhman, p. 201.
So sore it sticked whan I was hit
That by no craft I might it fit.-Chaucer. Rom. of the R.
How passing is the beauty of fleshly bodies? more flitting
than mouable floures of sommer.
Id. The Testament of Loue, b. ii.

So that his skin was shape all mete
And nailed on the same sete
Where that his sonne shulde sitte,
Auise him if he woulde flitte

The lawe for the couetise,

:

To toss or throw; to use a quick short action of tossing or throwing; (met.) to cast or throw a taunt or scoff; to act with giddiness, with wantonness.

Doe you make a flirte at the hating of your brother, as though it were a light faulte? He that hateth his brother is a manslear.-Udal. 1 John, c. 3.

By how much I saw them taking little thought for their own injuries, I must confess I took as ny part the less to endure that my respected friends through their own necessary patience, should thus lie at the mercy of a coy furting stile; to be girded with frumps and curtall gibes, by one who inakes sentences by the statute, as if all above three inches long were confiscate.

Milton. An Apology for Smectymnuus.

Sane. Is this the fellow

That had the patience to become a fool,

A flurted fool, and on a sudden break,

As if he would shew a wonder to the world,
Both in bravery and fortune too?

Beaum. & Fletch. Rule a Wife, &c. Act ill. sc. 2.
Bed. Ye brought me on, ye forced me to this foolery;
I am asham'd, I am scorn'd, I am flurted; yes, I am so.
Id. The Wild Goose Chase, Act ii. sc. 1.

I'le not be fool'd, nor flurted.-Id. The Pilgrim, Act i. sc.1. Sec. You are a scurvy fellow, and I am made a cokes, an Bas; and this same filthy crones a flirt.

Ford. The Fancies Chaste and Noble, Act iii. sc. 3. I'le follow her, but who shall vex her father then: One furt at him, and then I am for the voyage.

Beaum. & Fletch. The Pilgrim, Act iii. sc. 1.

Thou takest me up at every word I spoke,
As I had been a mewkin, a flurt gillian;
And thou think'st because thou canst write and read,
Our noses must be under thee.

Id. The Chances, Act iii. sc. 1. Scuruie knave, I am none of his flurt girls.

Shakespeare. Romeo & Juliet, Act ii. sc. 4.

His personal gravity and virtue was great, and he [Sir William Jones] could not bear such a furting wit and libertine as the other was.-Roger North. Examen.

From a grave thinking mouser, she was grown
The gayest flirt that coach'd it round the town.

Pill. Fable. The Young Man and his Cat.
Let me die if I don't think a muslin flounce, made very
full, would give one a very agreeable flirtation.
Pope. Let. In the Style of a Lady.

The trembling family they daunt,
They flirt, they sing, they laugh, they tattle,
Rummage his mother, pinch his aunt,
And up stairs in a whirlwind rattle.

And (but his learned guide instruct him did, to let go by Those fitting tender formes, and not to touch those shappes that flye,

Which nothing ben but life, and substance none but likenes thinne)

He would with them haue fought, and did in vaine to beat beginne.-Phaer. Virgill. Eneidos, b. vi.

For this worde [Galilee] in the Sirian tongue, signifieth a Ayttyng or chaungyng of habitacion.-Udal. Mark, c. 1.

Yet will he rather abide it and suffer, then by the flyttynge from it, fall in ye dyspleasure of God, or leaue Goddes pleasure vnprocured.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 1177.

Thou tellest my flyttingis, thou puttest my teares in thy
bottel and nobrest them.-Bible, 1551. Psalm 56.
Thou hast counted my wandrings, put my teares, &c.
Geneva Bible, 1561. Ib.

But I in armes, and in atchievements brave,
Do rather choose my fitting houres to spend,
And to be lord of those that riches have,
Than them to have my selfe and be their servile sclave.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 7.

And therein all the famous history
Of Jason and Medæa was ywrit;
Her mighty charmes, her furious loving fit,
His goodly conquest of the golden fleece,
His falsed faith, and loue too lightly fit.

Id. Ib. b. ii. c. 12.
Vnder such props, false Fortune builds her bowre,
On sudden change, her flittering frames be set,
Where is no way, for to escape the net.
Mirrour for Magistrates, p. 502.
Neither can they any long time endure the same aire, nor
the tract of one, and the same soile ever pleaseth them, the
manner of their life is always in flight and flitting.
Holland. Ammianus, p. 7.

They philosophize Busying their brains in the mysterious toyes of flittie motion.

More. Song of the Soul. Psychathanasia, b. i. c. 1. s. 11. Had we but the same delight in heavenly objects, did we but receive the truth in the love of it, and mingle it with faith in the hearing, this would fix that volatileness and fittinesse of our memories, and make every truth as indelible as it is necessary-Bp. Hopkins. Of the Lord's Prayer. Then Mnestheus to the head his arrow drove With lifted eyes, and took his aim above; But made a glancing shot, and miss'd the dove; Yet miss'd so narrow, that he cut the cord Which fastened by the foot the flitting bird.

Dryden. Virgil. Æneid, b. v.

The rest are forms, of empty ether made;
In passive semblance, and a flitting shade.
Pope. Homer. Odyssey, b. x.

My undulating life was as
The fancied lights that filling pass
Our shut eyes in deep midnight, when
Fever begins upon the brain.

Byron. Mazeppa.

And warn him not to cast his wanton eyne

On grosser bacon, or salt haberdine,

Or dried flitches of some smoked beeve,
Hang'd on a wrythen wythe since Martin's eve.
Bp. Hall, b. iv. Sal. 4
While he [Philemon] from out the chimney took
A flitch of bacon off the hook,

And freely from the fattest side

Cut out large slices to be fry'd.-Swift. Baucis & Philemon FLIX, i.e. Flux, (qv.)

There was amōg the great multitude of people a certayne woman, which had been diseased with the bluddy fixe fot the space of twelue yeares, and had spent her whole substaunce vpon physicians, and yet founde she none that coulde heale her disease.-Udal. Matthew, c. 9.

FLIX, i.e. Flax, (qv.)

No locks Coromandel's, none Malacca's tribe
Adorn; but sleek of flix, and brown-like deer,
Fearful and shepherdless, they bound along
The sands.

Dyer. The Fleece, d. 1. FLO. A. S. Fla, flan, from Fle-an, to fly, That which flieth; an arrow.

This Phebus gan awayward for to wrien;
Him thought his woful herte brast a'two.
His bowe he bent, and set therin a flo;
And in his ire he hath his wif yslain.

Chaucer. The Manciples Tale, v. 17,144.

In his shoting it happeth oft so

To hurt his frend rather than his fo, So doeth this God with his sharp flone The trew sleeth, and letteth the false gone. Chaucer. The Complaint of the Black Knight. FLOAT, v. A. S. Fleot-an; Dut. Vlieten ; FLOAT, n. Fr. Flotter; It. Fiottare; Sp. FLOATER. Flotar. The A. S. Fleohtan, from flow-an; whence fluere, fuitare, to flow, to float, or, as sometimes written, to fleet.

FLOATERY.

To flow or swim, keep or support, upon the surface; to buoy, raise or rise upon, to flow over, or overflow the surface; to move as if supported by fluid substance; as to float in the air: (met.) to float in the mind.

Now er alle on flote, God gif tham grace to spede.
R. Brunne, p. 169.
For she, that doth me all this woe endure,
Ne recceth never, whether I sinke or fete.

Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 2599,

Tho came this woful Theban Palamon
With flotery berd, and ruggy ashy heres,

In clothes blake, ydropped all with teres.-Id. Ib. v. 2985.
But sens thus sinfully ye me begile
My bodie mote ye seen, within a while
Right in the hauen of Athenes fletyng
Withouten sepulture and buryng.-Id. Legend of Phillis.
On this west shore we found a dead fish floating.

Hacklugt. Voyages, vol. iii. And for the space of fifty leagues before we came hither we alwayes found swimming on the sea flotes of weedes of a ship's length, and of the bredth of two ships.

Id. Ib. vol. iii. p. 415.

And the yere folowyng that sayde yere, a parte of the sayd Danys takyng shyppynge in the northe, entendynge to sayle towarde easte Englond, met in the see with a flute of Danys, wherof the captaynes, or ledars, were named Hynguvar and Hubba. Fabyan. Cronycle, vol. i. c. 169.

There did a loftie mount at first us greet,
Which did a stately heap of stones upreare,
That seem'd amid the surges for to fleet,
Much greater than that frame, which us did beare.
Spenser. Colin Clout's come Home again.

The fish, still floting, doe at random range,
And neuer rest, but euermore exchange
Their dwelling places, as the streames them carrie.
Id. Faerie Queene, c. 7.

The river Atax springing out of Pyrenæus runneth through the lake Rubrensis and floteth over it.

Holland. Plinie, b. iii. c. 4.

Vitellius had a quiet beginning of his iourney, a drie shore, and small fote: but by and by through a gale of northern winde, the equinoxe falling out the same time, and the sea swelling extraordinarily; his armie was tossed hither and thither: the face of the earth was covered with waters, the sea, the shore, the fields, were all but one,

Greneway. Tacitus. Annales, p. 28 Of which kind we conceive the main float and refloat of the sea is, which is by consent of the universe, as part of the diurnal motion.-Bacon, Naturall Historie, s. 907.

At this men did startle the more at this time, because it appeared plainely to bee in the King's nature, and not out of his necessitie, hee being now in float for treasure. Id. Hen. VII. p. 139.

And for the rest o' th' fleet

(Which I dispersed) they all haue met againe,
And are vpon the Mediterranian flote
Bound sadly home for Naples.

Shakespeare. Tempest, Act i. sc. 2.

This set them so a flote, that they were readie, as it seemed, to follow him as the onely protect our of their libertics, in any action, were it right or wrong, they cared not which way, all was one with them.-Holland. Livics, p. 226.

In some countries the overflow of rivers engenders mushromes, and namely, at Mytilene, where (by report) they will not otherwise grow but upon floten grounds. Id. Plinie, b. xix. c. 3. While these vast floating bodies, on either side, moved against each other in parallel lines, and our countrymen, under the happy conduct of his royal highness (James, Duke of York, afterwards James II.) went breaking, by little and little, into the line of the enemies; the noise of the cannon from both navies reached our ears about the city. Dryden. On Dramatic Poesy. Great God of Waters, whose extended sway Is next to his whom Heaven and Earth obey: Let not the suit of Venus thee displeasePity the floaters on th' Ionian seas.

Eusden. Ovid. Metam. b. iv.

Every thing floats loose and disjointed on the surface of their mind [the vulgar and trifling], like leaves scattered and blown about on the face of the waters.-Blair, vol. ii. Ser. 2. When we reflect on our past behaviour, we have not in view before us the state of mind we were actually in at the time of acting, which is gone and over, but its representative icea and our ideas being perpetually upon the flout, leave room for another representation to slip in, such aims as bear an unfavourable aspect hiding themselves or taking shelter under others more reputable.

Search. Light of Nature, vol. i. pt. ii. c. 16.

FLOCCIPEND. Lat. Flocci, and pendere, to weigh, estimate or value, not a hair.

A Latinism in which the old Chronicler Hall indulged.

Many other ridiculous articles they layde to hym, whiche the eares of enery honest creature knowynge the duetie of the sublect to his Prynce, would abhore and floccipend. Hall. Hen. VII. an. 4. By reason wherof he should be floccipended and had in cōtempt & disdeygne of the Scottish people.-Id. It. an. 11.

FLOCK, v. By transposition of the letter FLOCK, n. 1, from folk; and folk, in A. S. FLOCK-MELE. Fole; Dut. Volck, from A. S. Folg-ian; Dut. Volg-hen, to follow. See FOLK. And see Flock, and Folk, in Junius.

Flock-mele, A. S. Flock-mælum, gregatim, (in herds or flocks,) from floc, grex, and mæl, a part or portion.

To follow, (sc.) in numbers or multitudes, in crowds. To collect or assemble, in multitudes; to crowd together or move in crowds.

Fynd foure freres in a flok, that folweth that rewle
Than haue I tynt al my test, touche, and assaye.
Piers Plouhman. Crede.

Only that point his people bare so sore,
That flock-mel on a day to him they went.

Chaucer. The Clerkes Tale, v. 7962.

Lo thus to broke is Christes folde,
Wherof the flocke without guide
Deuour'd is on euery side.-Gower. Con. A. Prol.

Porus being forsaken of the more parte of his me cessed not to cast dartes, whereof he hadde plentie prepared vpo his elephant, emongest them that flocked about hym.

Brende. Quintus Curtius, fol. 250.

Then thought I thus, one day the Lord shall sit in dome To view his flock, and chose the pure; the spotted haue no rome.-Surrey. Ecclesiastes, c. 3.

But it is a dampnable dede to geue so greate wages to maintayne the superfluouse excesse and viciouse lyuynge of ydle bysshops) priests and monkes) the trewe flok-feders neglected) studyes and scoles not conserued.

Joye. Exposicion of Daniel, c. 5.

And some lords, knightes, and gentlemenne, either for fauore of the queene, or for feare of themselfe assembled in sundry coumpanies, and wente flock-mele in harneis. Sir T. More. Workes, p. 43.

By this meanes thire flocked multitudes, every day more than other, to Syracusee: whose eares were tickled, and itched still to heare such surmises, and were apt ynough to give credit thereto.-Holland. Livivs, p. 525.

As thou our folds dost still secure,
And keepst our fountains sweet and pure,
Driv'st hence the wolf, the tode, the brock,
Or other vermine from the flock.

B. Jonson. Hymn 4. To Pan.

About the latter end of July, 1553, she [the Queen] was arrived as near as Wanstead-house, in Essex, (which then belonged to the Lord Rich) where she took up her rest for a few days, in order to her entrance into the city; and there flocked unto her there great numbers of her nobility and gentry. Strype. Memorials. Queen Mary, an. 1553.

He next betakes him to his evening cares And, sitting down, to milk his flocks prepares; Of half their udder eases first the dams, Then to the mother's teats submits the lambs. Pope, Homer. Odyssey, b. ix. Philo describing the conduct of the Jews of Alexandria, on a certain publick occasion, relates to them, that "early in the morning, flocking out of the gates of the city, they go to the neighbouring shores (for the poreuxai were destroyed,) and, standing in a most pure place, they lift their voices with one accord."-Paley. Evidences, vol. ii. c. 6. The swains with Daphne's name this tomb adorn, Whose high-renown above the skies is borne; Fair was his flock, he fairest on the plain, The pride, the glory of the sylvan reign.

Beattie. Virgil, Past. 5.

FLOCK. Fr. Floc; Dut. Vlocke, a flocke FLOCK-BED. or lock of wool, (Minshew.) The Fr. Floc, Menage derives from the Lat. Floccus. In A. S. Flac-ea is, as rendered by Somner, Floccini, flocci nivis; flakes of snow or such like. See FLAKE.

And you have fastened on a thick quilt, or flock-bed, on the outside of the doore. B. Jonson. The Silent Woman, Act ii. sc. 1.

O my dear Thrasherwell, you're gone to sea,
And happiness must ever banish'd be
From our flock-bed, our garrat, and from me!

King. The Soldier's Wedding.

On once a flock bed, but repair'd with straw,
With tape-ty'd curtains, never meant to draw,
The George and Garter dangling from that bed,
Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red,
Great Villiers lies. Pope. Moral Essays, Ep. 3.

FLOG. From the Lat. Flag - ellare.
FLAGELETTE.

See

To lash or scourge, to strike, to beat. Then turning, he regales his list'ning wife With all th' adventures of his early life; His skill in coachmanship, or driving chaise, In bilking tavern bills, and spouting plays; What shifts he us'd, detected in a scrape; How he was flogg'd, or had the luck t'escape. Cowper. Tirocinium. Reason him by fair means out of all those things, for which he will not be the worse man; and flog him severely for those things only, for which the law would punish him as a man.--Chesterfield. Misc. Works, vol. iv. b. ii. Let. 75.

By foisting in the word little, they can reduce any pain to a bearable size: for what signifies a little scorching or a little flogging.-Search. Light of Nature, vol. ii. pt. iii. c. 29.

As for their intimation, that because Egypt was a country intersected by canals, there never were any horses or chariots in it, they ought for this to take their part in the next general flogging, at Westminster School. Bp. Horne. Works, vol. iv. Let. 14. FLOIT. From A. S. Flit-an, contendere, rixari, to contend, to strive.

The Duke of Bedforde, accompanyed with the Erle of Marche and other Lordes, had a great font and batayll with dyuers carykkes of Jeane and other shyppes, were after longe and sore fyght, ye honour fyll to hym and his Englysshemen.-Fabyan. Cronycle, vol. i. an. 1516.

FLOOD, v. A. S. Flen-an, to flow. FlowFLOOD, n. Sed, flow'd, flood. Dut. Vloed;

Ger. Fluss.

That which has flow'd; opposed to ebb: applied to a mass of water; also (emphatically) to the general deluge; a deluge, an inundation; (met.) abundance, profusion.

Up a cheare he [Knout] sat adoun, al vp the see sonde,
An enresonde hys men, as hii byuore hym stonde,
So that the tyme com of the see flode,
That yt bygan to waxe vaste, as yt deth atte tyde.
R. Gloucester, p. 321.
The bodies with ther godes wer costen vp on the sond,
After an ebbe of the flode, euer ilkon thei fond.
R. Brunne, p. 106.
And out of stent sprange flod, that folke and bestes
dronken.-Piers Ploukman, p. 257.

And in the day of Sabotis we wenten forth without the ghate besidis the flood where preiere semede to be, and we saten and spaken to wymmen that camen togidre. Wiclif. Dedis, c. 16.

After the flood, for whiche Noe Was saufe, the worlde in his degree Was made as who seith newe ageyn.-Gower. Con. A. b. v. With which wordes the mortal syghes renewed in Titus, and the salte teares braste out of his eyen, in such abundaunce, as it had ben a lande flode runnyng downe of a moutayne after a storme. Sir T. Elyot. Governour, b. ii. c. 12. Surely, we nickname this same floodding [i. e. profuse] man, when we call him by the name of brave.

Feltham, pt. i. Res. 53.

Who first did found the dungeons of the deep?
But one in all, o'er all, above, about:
The flouds for our delight, first calm were set,
But storme and roare, since men did God forget.
Stirling. Domes-day. The first Houre.
Out of her gored wound the crewell steel
He lightly snatcht, and did the flood-gate stop
With his faire garment.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 1. When at any time the waters seem to stand and cover the ground still, they are let out at certain sluices or floudgates drawne up and set open.-Holland. Plinie, b. v. c. 9.

What has hind'red me from writeing to you, was neither ill-health, nor a worse thing, ingratitude; but a flood of little businesses which are necessary to my subsistence, and of which I hop'd to have given you a good account before this time.-Dryden. Prose Works, Let. 37. To Mrs. Seward.

And this much for the first sort of doctrines, which once believed, like the flood-gates of hell pulled up, lets in a deluge and inundation of all sin and vice upon the lives of men.-South, vol. ii. Ser. 6.

Here, as the virgin turn'd her eyes aside,
On the fair bank a comely youth she spy'd;
Fast by the margin of the flood he lay,
The margin with a thousand colours gay.

Hoole. Orlando Furioso, b. ii.

They [the fair sex] dare not wait the riotous abuse
Thy thirst-creating streams at length produce;
When wine has giv'n indecent language birth,
And forc'd the flood-gates of licentious mirth.

Cowper. Conversation. FLOOK. Also written Fluke. Skinner calls FLOOKY. Sit vor nautica, the crooked part of the anchor which is infixed into the earth; I know not (he adds) whether from Ger. Pflug; Dut. Ploegh, a plow, from its manifest resemblance to a plow, both in form and in action, (sc.) the action of cutting into the earth.

For having with her picked beak-head stricken a Sidonian ship, with the violence of the blow shooke out her owne anker, which by one of the floukes [unco dente] tooke fast hold as if it had bene a grapling hooke by the pro of the other ship.-Holland. Livivs, p. 962.

For many a fathom down he had explor'd,
For treasures lost. Old Ocean's oozy hoard;
Oft when the flooky anchor stuck below,
He sunk, and bade the captive vessell go.

Rowe. Lucan, b. iil.

Then hushed in silence deep they leave the land:
No loud-mouthed voices call with hoarse command,
To heave the flooky anchors from the sand.—Id. Ib.
FLOOR, v.
FLOOR, n.
FLOORING, n.

A. S. Flor, uore, uere, uer. ing; Ger. Flor; Sw. Flo, uor; Dut. Vloer, vloerer, pavimentare; Skinner suggests, so called because, at least in the season of spring, they were strewed with flowers, (floribus.) Applied to

The base or basis (within a room or building) upon which we stand, tread or go.

Ryght as som man gyveth me mete. and sette me amidde the floor.-Piers Plouhman, p. 237.

And he schal fully clense his corn flore, and he schal gadre his whete into his berne.-Wiclif. Matthew, c. 3.

& wyl pourge his floure, & gather the wheat into his garner.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

The flore & bench was paued faire and smothe
With stones square, of many diuers hewe
So wel ioyned, that for to say the soth
Al semed one.

Chaucer. The Assembly of Ludies,
For whan I maie hire hond beclip,
With suche gladnes I daunce and skip,

Me thinketh I touche not the floor.-Gower. Con. A b. iv. These chappels haue their floores couered, and their walles hanged with tapistrie of great price.

Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. II. p. i. p. 169.

Y sayd Goothis, by crafty and false meanes, caused the forthe of the sayd chambre to falle, by whiche meane ye sayd Paterne was greuously hurte.-Fabyan. Cron. vol. i. c. 99.

And it was sayd, he had taken on hym to passe through Auuergne, to go see the Pope and Cardinallis at Auygnone, and to haue some of their floring, as well as the Archpreest had done.-Berners. Froissart. Cronycle, vol. i. c. 203.

And under foot floor'd all about with drums [in the Palace of Fame]

The rafters trumpets admirably clear, Sounding aloud each name that thither comes,

The crannies tongues, and talking ev'ry where, And all things past in memory to bear.

And soone after, when they were come to the place aforesaid, they passed over the river upon a floored bridge of ships, and possessed themselves of the enemies land. Holland Ammianus, p. 79.

To rest, he layd him downe vpon the flore, (Whilome for ventrous knights the bedding best) And thought his weary limbs to haue redrest. Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 5. Both of them [visibles and audibles] spread themselves in round, and fill a whole floare or orbe into certain limits. Bacon. Naturall Historie, § 225.

And let it onely have opening and windowes towards the garden, and be levell upon the floare, no whit sunke under ground, to avoid all dampishness.-Bacon. Ess. Of Building.

Mosaique, is an ornament in truth, of much beauty, and long life; but of most use in pavements and floorings. Reliquia Woltonianæ, p. 63.

These considerations made the lord mayors be very solicitous to have able sheriffs chosen, and that created differences between him and the aldermen on the one side, and the floor or livery men on the other.

State Trials, an. 1683. T. Pilkington & Others.

In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half-hung,
The floors of plaster, and the walls of dung.

Pope. Moral Essays, Ep. 3.

The very froth and scum, in manner of a florie [flos quidam] that casteth up, some use to put into colyries and medicines for the eies.-Holland. Plinie, b. xxiv. c. 14.

In which furnace a man shall perceive these different matters, to wit, the brasse itselfe, which being melted, runneth into pans and vessels readie for to receive it; the refuse, called scoria, which flieth out of the furnace; the forey that floteth aloft [flos supernatat;] and the diphryges or drosse which remaineth behind.-Id. Ib. b. xxxiv. c. 13.

How first began this Heav'n which we behold
Distant so high, with moving fires adorn'd
Innumerable, and which yields or fills
All space, the ambient aire wide interfus'd
Imbracing round this florid earth.

Milton. Paradise Lost, b. vii.

The crested cock whose clarion sounds
The silent hours, and the other whose gay traine
Adorns him, coloured with a florid hue
Of rainbows and starrie eyes.

Id. Ib.

And indeed how oddly would the Tuscan or Doric become the Corinthian coifure, or the spruce and florid Corinthian a Tuscan entablature.-Evelyn. Of Architects & Architecture.

We need therefore the lesse wonder, that some of the antient Grecians should so much extol it, deriving it not arly from the amenity and floridness of the warm and spirited bloud; but deducing it from heauen itself as being practized there by the stars.-Feltham, pt. i. Res. 70.

In a late letter from your lordship by my servant, I have besides your own favours, the honour of imployments from King, in a piece of his delight: which doth so consort with the opportunity of my charge here, that it hath given

The second a dry and flosculous root, commonly called mace.-Ib. Ib. b. ii. c. 6.

The spumous and florid state, which the bloud acquires in passing through the lungs, is easily accounted for, from its own elasticity, and the violent motion before described; the aerial particles in the blood and chyle expanding themselves. Arbuthnot. Of Aliments, c. 2. Some, deep Free-Masons, join the silent race, Worthy to fill Pythagoras's place: Some Botanists, or Florists at the least Or issue members of an annual feast.

Pope. The Dunciad, b. iv.

Mr. Burt assures me, that the four radical leaves [of the Indian spikenard] are hearted and petioled; and it is most probable that the cauline and floral leaves would have a similar form in their state of perfect expansion, but unfortunately, the plants at Guya are now shrivelled.

Sir W. Jones. Of the Spikenard of the Ancients. And where the trees unfold their bloom, And where the banks their floriage bear, And all effuse a rich perfume

That hovers in the soft calm air. Scott, Ode 20. Kingdoms by thee, to sickly greatness grown, Boast of a florid vigour not their own. Goldsmith. The Deserted Village. When the ornaments, applied to style, are too rich and gaudy in proportion to the subject, when they return upon us too fast, and strike us either with a dazzling lustre or a false brilliancy, this forms what is called a florid style: a term commonly used to signify the excess of ornament. Blair, Lect. 18. A piece of gold, first coined by the Florentines, and adorned with the figure of a flower; and hence its name. (Vossius, de Vitiis, lib. iii. c. 12.) See the quotation from Camden. Cloths Richard III. c. 8. called Florences are mentioned in Statute 1, See Rastall, fol. 125, c. 4. And feffe falsnesse, wit floreynes ynowe.

FLOREN. FLORENCE. FLORENTINE.

Piers Plouhman, p. 32.

And everich of thise riotoures ran,
Til they came to the tree, and ther they found
Of floreins fine of gold ycoined round,
Wel nigh an eighte bushels, as hem thought.
Chaucer. The Pardoneres Tale, v. 12,704.

But here I fynde the so bad, That the ne list to speake o worde Thyne own mouthe, or of thyn horde To yeue a floreyn me to help. Gower. Con. A. b. vii. Here is to be noted, that a florene is an Italian crowne, of the valewe of four shillinges and sixpense sterlinge. Jewell. Defence, p. 735. The first gold that King Edward III. coyned, was in the year 1343, and the peeces were called florences, because Florentines were the coyners, as Easterlings of sterling money.-Camden. Remaines. Money.

If stealing custards, tarts, and florentines
By some late statute be created treason;
How many fellow-courtiers can I bring,
Whose long attendance and experience,
Hath made them deeper in the plot than I?

Beaum. & Fletch. The Woman Hater, Act v. sc. 1. The Lord of Walberg paid an hundred florens to the monastry of Saint Catherine for a large picture of the Salutation painted by him.

Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting, vol. i. c. 3. FLOTA, Sp. a fleet. See the quotation from Swinburne.

The flota is a fleet of large ships, which carry out the goods of Europe to the ports of America, and bring back the produce of Mexico, Peru, and other kingdoms of the New World.-Swinburne. Travels through Spain, Let. 28. While Grenville's breast could virtue's stores afford, What envied flota bore so fair a freight? The mine compar'd in vain its latent hoard, The gem its lustre, and the gold its weight Shenstone, Elegy 16. To Lord Temple

She [France] will fit out armaments upon the ocean by which the flota itself may be intercepted, and thus the trea sures of all Europe, as well as the largest and surest resources of the Spanish monarchy, may be conveyed into France and become powerful instruments for the annoyance of all her neighbours.-Burke. On the Present State of Affairs.

FLOTE. See To FLEet.

Such cheeses, goody Cisley, ye floted too nigh.

Tusser. A Lesson for Dairy Maid Cisley. FLOTSAM. Flotsen, flotzam, or flotzon, (says Minshew,) be any goods that by shipwracke be lost, and lie floting or swimming upon the top of

the water.

Flotsam is where they [goods] continue swimming [i. e. floating] on the surface of the waves. Blackstone. Commentaries, b. i. c. 8.

FLOUNCE, v. Į Sw. Flunsa, immergere. FLOUNCE, n. From Dut. Plonssen, to plunge, to dip; a word, Skinner thinks, formed from the sound.

To plunge, to dash or throw about; to move with a tossing, dashing air or action.

Also, to dress with flounces; to affix a flounce, i. e. a flouncing appendage to the dress.

Now, when hee drew near unto the banks of the river, going about a certaine ditch standing full of moorish water, to see where he might pass over, he ventured upon it, and after his horse had flounced and floundered with his heeles in the soft and clammie mud, hee got out of it at length. Holland. Ammianus, p. 77.

Old Lady Meanwell's chamber-door,

Just on the stairs of the first floor
Stood open and pray who should come,
But Knowall, flouncing in the room.-King. Art of Love.
She was flounced and furbelowed from head to foot; every
ribbon was crinkled, and every part of her garments in curl.
Spectator.

Nor undelighted by the boundless Spring
Are the broad monsters of the foaming deep:
From the deep ooze and gilded cavern rous'd
They flounce and tumble in unwieldy joy.

Thomson. Spring.

Her keys he takes; her doors unlocks;
Through wardrobe and through closet bounces;
Peeps into every chest and box;
Turns all her furbeloes and flounces.-Prior. The Dove.
But thou, vain man! beguil'd by Popish shows,
Doatest on ribands, flounces, furbelows.

Gay. Eclogues. The Espousal.

FLOUNDER, v. Perhaps immediately from flounce; Dut. Plonssen, to plunge. See the first citation in v. FLOUNCE.

To move with large and clumsy action; to throw about the limbs awkwardly and violently; to plunge or struggle without aim or object. Soph. Then if she flounder with you, Clap spurrs on, and this you'll deal with temperance. Beaum. & Fletch. The Woman's Prize, Act ii. sc. 3 Then gnaw'd his pen, then dash'd it on the ground, Sinking from thought to thought, a vast profound! Plung'd for his sense but found no bottom there, Yet wrote and flounder'd on in mere despair.

Pope. The Dunciad, b. i. But he sinks and flounders under this false bottom, that whatever was clearly revealed to the Prophets, was so revealed, in order to be communicated to others. Warburton. Rem. on Occasional Reflections.

Quick, girl,

Let us consult, and thou shalt find what silly snipes,
These witty gentlemen shall prove, and in
Their own confession too, or I'll cry flounders else.
Davenant. The Wits, Act ii.

Musta. Stay and stand quietly or you shall fall else, Not to firk up your belly flounder-like, but never To rise again.-Massinger. The Renegado, Act iii. sc. 1 The founder inhabits every part of the British sea, and even frequents our rivers at a great distance from the salt waters.-Pennant. British Zoology. Common Flounder.

FLOUR, or Skinner says, Flower, pro fariFLOWER, n. nâ, q.d. flos farinæ, (i.e.) farina purissima, vel potius, q.d. flos frumenti (i. e.) purissima ejas pars, glumis et furfure purgata; the flower of the corn, i. e. the purest part of it, after the husk and the bran are cleansed away. And see the quotations from Pliny in v. Floret

Id. House of Fame, b. iii.

Then let al that be in Jury, the flourishingest, and moost famous parte of the countrey, flye vnto the deserte and wylde mountaynes.-Udal. Marke, c. 13.

She is in lyke case flourishinglye decked wyth golde, preciouse stone, and pearles, not only in her many fold kyndes of ornaments as in her coopes, corporasses, chesybles, tunicles, stooles, fannoms and miters, but also in misterie of counterfiete godlinesse.-Bale. Image, pt. ii.

He, noble bud, his grandsire's livelie heyre,
Under the shadow of thy countenance
Now ginnes to shoote up faste, and flourish fayre
In learned artes, and goodlie gouernaunce.

Spenser. The Ruines of Time.

Sir, you find
By these gay flourishes how wearied travail
Inclines to willing rest.

Ford. Perkin Warbeck, Act iv. sc. 2.

Like a mountebank's jugler, with big swelling words in your preface, you raised our expectation, as if some mighty matter were to ensve; in which your design was not so much to introduce a true narrative of the King's story, as to make your own empty intended flourishes go off the better.

Millon. A Defence of the People of England, c. 1. Also when they would cloake and extenuate the imperfection of other passions, by calling lust a promptitude or forwardness to a thing: it seemeth, that by a flourish of fine words they devise shifts, evasions, and justifications, not philosophicall but sophisticall.-Holland. Plutarch, p. 62.

He [North] was not an orator, as commonly understood, that is, not a flourisher, but all his speech was fluent, easy, and familiar, and he never used a word for ornament but for intelligence only.-R. North. Life of the Ld. Keeper North.

This is the true flourishing of a land, other things follow as the shadow does the substance; to teach thus were mere pulpitry to them -Milton. Reformation in England, b. ii.

Though wild Ambition her just vengeance feels,
She wars to save, and where she strikes, she heals.
So Pallas with her javelin smote the ground,
And peaceful olives flourish'd from the wound.

Broome. On the Seat of War in Flanders.

Patriots, alas! the few that have been found,
Where most they flourish, upon English ground,
The Country's need have scantily supplied,
And the last left the scene, when Chatham died.

Cowper. Table Talk,

By continual meditations in sacred writings, a man as naturally improves and advances in holiness, as a "tree" thrives and flourishes in a kindly and well watered soil. Bp. Horne. Com. on the Psalms, Ps. 1.

Ray (inhis N. C. words) to flite, to scold or brawl. Grose, flight, a scolding match.

To chide, to rebuke, to scoff ai.

laughed at, and fouted by Hildebrand among his paragons For three dayes [he] suffered with lametable miserie to be and monkes-Bule. Pageant of Popes, b. v. p. 84.

Vouchsafe (my friend) therin for to amend
That is amisse, remember that our sect
Is sure to be with floutes always infect.

Gascoigne. Dan Bartholomew of Bathe.

But such was the disdaine of the Frenchmen against this William Longspee and the Englishmen that they could not abide them, but flouted them after an opprobrious maner with English tailes.-Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 34. At length, when they had fouted him their fill, They gan to cast what penance him to give.

Spenser. Faerie Queene. Mutabilitie, c. 6. For all this foul stirre they kept flouting and reviling them under their very trench and hard at their gates. Holland. Livivs, p. 74. And not as some (whose throats their envie fayling) Cry hoarsely, all he writes. is rayling: And, when his playes come forth think they can flout them, With saying, he was a yeere about them. B. Jonson. The Fox, Prol.

If you observe the purport and occasion of the promise of this spirit, in the 4th of John, it was when our Saviour was treating with the woman of Samaria, a great sinner, v. 18, utterly ignorant, v. 10, 23, a flouter of him, v. 15, and as yet (when Christ spake these words) purely in her natural estate. Goodwin. Works, vol. v. p. 36.

Cler. And now you have found him,
Declare what business, our embassadour.

O. Lady. What's that to ye good man flouter. Beaum. & Fletch. Little French Lawyer, Act ii. sc. 1. They were men, it is true, but they were withal great and good men; a character which these will never arrive to, who presume to flout or despise them.

Waterland. Works, vol. v. p. 429.

Tho' the new practising criticks are of a sort unlikely ever to understand any original book or writing; they can understand, or at least remember, and quote the subsequent reflections, flouts, and jeers which may accidently be made on such a piece.

Shaftesbury. Miscellaneous Reflections, Misc. 5. c. 2.

With whom I feast I do not fawn,
Nor if the folks should flout me, faint;
If wonted welcome be withdrawn,
I cook no kind of a complaint.

Byrom. Careless Content. FLOW, v. A. S. Flow-an; Ger. FliesFLOW, n. sen; Dut. Vlieten; Sw. Flyta. FLOWING, n. Skinner thinks from the Lat. FLOWINGLY. Fluere. Wachter seems to FLO WINGNESS. think a foreign origin not nefrom the A. S. cessary, and Tooke is decisive that the Lat. is

To move as water from its spring or source; to issue; to move or glide equably, smoothly, withabound; applied (met.) to a style of writing, out stop or stay; to rise to fulness; and thus, to smooth, easy, and copious.

The sea eke, with his sterne wawes
Ech day floweth new againe

And by concours, of his lawes

The ebbe floweth in certaine.-Chaucer. Balades. fouwing out of him.-Joye. Exposicion of Daniel, c. 7. And there went longe fyery beames lyke a floude of fyer

It is a prouerbe, by which is signifyed that in this worlde is nothing stable, permenat nor durable, but like as the see dooth continually flowe and ebbe.

Udal. Flowers of Latine Speaking, fol. 49.

If God had not sent vs another helpe, we might haue wandred a whole yere in that labyrinth of riuers, yer [ere] we had found any way, either out or in, especially after wee were past ebbing and flowing, which was in foure days. Hacklugt. Voyages, vol. iii. p. 643.

Ne is the water in more constant case;
Whether those same on high, or these belowe.
For th' occasion moveth still from place to place;
And every river still doth ebb and flowe.

Spenser. Faerie Queene. Mutabilitie, c. 7.

So lovely fair thou art, that sure dame Nature
Meant thee the pattern of the female creature:
Besides all this, thy flowing wit is such,
That were it not in thee 't had heen too much
For woman kind.
Suckling. Upon Mrs. A. J.
Now my wanton pearls I show
That to ladies fair necks grow.
Now my gold
And treasures that can ne're be told,
Shall bless this land, by my rich flow.

Beaum. & Fletch. The False One, Act iii. sc. 2.

I doe jove

To note, and to observe: though I live out, Free from the active torrent, yet I'ld marke The currents, and the passages of things, For mine oune private use; and know the ebbs, And flows of State.-B. Jonson. The Fox, Act ii. sc. 1. And this (you will see) will in so great a person amount to, and become the matter of a full and just satisfaction indeed, even to a flowing over.

Goodwin. Works, vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 110.

His graces are said to be, and to dwell in our hearts; because the Spirit first and primarily, who is the author of them, doth so: As the beams do therefore dwell in this visible world, or the heavens, because the sun doth first and originally dwell there, whose emanations and flowings forth they are. Id. 1b. vol. v. p. 57.

O could I flow like thee, and make thy streame,
My great example, as it is my theme!
Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, not dull;
Strong without rage, without o'er-flowing full.
Denham. Cooper's Hill.
The winds were hush'd, the waves in ranks were cast,
As awfully as when God's people pass'd:

Those, yet uncertain on whose sails to blow, These, where the wealth of nations ought to flow. Dryden. Annus Mirabilis. Great sir, your return into this nation in the 12th year of your reign, resembles the flowing of the river Nilus in the 12th degree; that year was crowned with the enjoyment of Speaker's Speech to the King. your royal person.-Parliamentary Hist. Ch. II. an. 1661.

A flow of wealth, which, regulated by the essential qualities of a virtuous people, would have set all to rights, will serve only to extend the luxury, to encourage the dissipation, and to inflame the insolence and riot of a lawless crew of miscreants.-Warburton. Works, vol. x. Ser. 34.

FLOWER, v. FLOWER, n. FLOWERET. FLOWERING, N. FLOWERLESS. FLOWERY.

As wel in gost as body, chast was she, For which she floured in virginitee.

Bible, 1551. Ib

Chaucer. The Doctoures Tale, v. 11,978

And if I vnto you mine othes bede
For mine excuse, a scorne shal be my mede,
Your chere floureth, but it wol not seed.

Id. The Assemblie of Ladies
And certainly a man hath most honour
To dien in his excellence and flour,
Whan he is sicker of his goode name.

Id. The Knightes Tale, v. 3059.