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What (who) is flat - definition
WIKIMEDIA DISAMBIGUATION PAGE
Flats; Flat (mathematics); Flat (disambiguation); Flats (disambiguation); FLATS
flat
(flats, flatter, flattest)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
A flat is a set of rooms for living in, usually on one floor and part of a larger building. A flat usually includes a kitchen and bathroom. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use apartment
)
)
Sara lives with her husband and children in a flat in central London...
It started a fire in a block of flats...
Later on, Victor from flat 10 called.
= apartment
N-COUNT: also N num
2.
Something that is flat is level, smooth, or even, rather than sloping, curved, or uneven.
Tiles can be fixed to any surface as long as it's flat, firm and dry...
After a moment his right hand moved across the cloth, smoothing it flat...
The sea was calm, perfectly flat.
ADJ
3.
Flat means horizontal and not upright.
Two men near him threw themselves flat...
As heartburn is usually worse when you're lying down in bed, you should avoid lying flat.
ADJ: ADJ n, v-link ADJ, ADJ after v
4.
A flat object is not very tall or deep in relation to its length and width.
Ellen is walking down the drive with a square flat box balanced on one hand.
= shallow
ADJ: usu ADJ n
5.
Flat land is level, with no high hills or other raised parts.
To the north lie the flat and fertile farmlands of the Solway plain...
The landscape became wider, flatter and very scenic...
ADJ: ADJ n, v-link ADJ, ADJ after v
6.
A low flat area of uncultivated land, especially an area where the ground is soft and wet, can be referred to as flats or a flat.
The salt marshes and mud flats attract large numbers of waterfowl.
N-COUNT: usu pl, usu n N
7.
You can refer to one of the broad flat surfaces of an object as the flat of that object.
He slammed the counter with the flat of his hand.
...eight cloves of garlic crushed with the flat of a knife.
N-COUNT: usu sing, the N of n
8.
Flat shoes have no heels or very low heels.
People wear slacks, sweaters, flat shoes, and all manner of casual attire for travel.
ADJ: usu ADJ n
•
Flats are flat shoes. (AM)
His mother looked ten years younger in jeans and flats.
N-PLURAL
9.
A flat tyre, ball, or balloon does not have enough air in it.
ADJ
10.
A flat is a tyre that does not have enough air in it.
Then, after I finally got back on the highway, I developed a flat.
N-COUNT
11.
A drink that is flat is no longer fizzy.
Could this really stop the champagne from going flat?
? fizzy
ADJ
12.
His car alarm had been going off for two days and, as a result, the battery was flat.
ADJ
13.
If you have flat feet, the arches of your feet are too low.
The condition of flat feet runs in families.
ADJ
14.
A flat denial or refusal is definite and firm, and is unlikely to be changed.
The Foreign Ministry has issued a flat denial of any involvement...
ADJ: ADJ n
• flatly
He flatly refused to discuss it...
ADV: usu ADV with v, also ADV adj
15.
If you say that something happened, for example, in ten seconds flat or ten minutes flat, you are emphasizing that it happened surprisingly quickly and only took ten seconds or ten minutes.
You're sitting behind an engine that'll move you from 0 to 60mph in six seconds flat...
ADJ: num n ADJ [emphasis]
16.
A flat rate, price, or percentage is one that is fixed and which applies in every situation.
Fees are charged at a flat rate, rather than on a percentage basis...
Sometimes there's a flat fee for carrying out a particular task...
= fixed
? variable
ADJ: ADJ n
17.
If trade or business is flat, it is slow and inactive, rather than busy and improving or increasing.
During the first eight months of this year, sales of big pickups were up 14% while car sales stayed flat...
= sluggish
ADJ
18.
If you describe something as flat, you mean that it is dull and not exciting or interesting.
The past few days have seemed comparatively flat and empty...
ADJ
19.
You use flat to describe someone's voice when they are saying something without expressing any emotion.
'Whatever you say,' he said in a deadly flat voice. 'I'll sit here and wait.'...
Her voice was flat, with no question or hope in it.
ADJ
• flatly
I know you,' he said flatly, matter-of-fact, neutral in tone.
ADV: ADV after v
20.
Flat is used after a letter representing a musical note to show that the note should be played or sung half a tone lower than the note which otherwise matches that letter. Flat is often represented by the symbol . after the letter.
...Schubert's B flat Piano Trio (Opus 99).
? sharp
ADJ: n ADJ
21.
If someone sings flat or if a musical instrument is flat, their singing or the instrument is slightly lower in pitch than it should be.
Her vocal range was, to say the least of it, limited, and she had a distressing tendency to sing flat.
ADV: ADV after v
•
Flat is also an adjective.
He had been fired because his singing was flat.
ADJ
22.
If you say that something is as flat as a pancake, you are emphasizing that it is completely flat.
My home state of Illinois is flat as a pancake...
PHRASE: v-link PHR [emphasis]
23.
If you fall flat on your face, you fall over.
A man walked in off the street and fell flat on his face, unconscious.
PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR on n
24.
If an event or attempt falls flat or falls flat on its face, it is unsuccessful.
Liz meant it as a joke but it fell flat...
If it wasn't for the main actress, Ellen Barkin, the plot would have fallen flat on its face.
= fail
PHRASE: V inflects
25.
If you say that you are flat broke, you mean that you have no money at all. (INFORMAL)
Two years later he is flat broke and on the dole.
= skint
PHRASE: v-link PHR [emphasis]
26.
If you do something flat out, you do it as fast or as hard as you can.
Everyone is working flat out to try to trap those responsible...
They hurtled across the line in a flat-out sprint.
PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR n
27.
You use flat out to emphasize that something is completely the case. (mainly AM INFORMAL)
That allegation is a flat-out lie...
PHRASE: PHR n/adj, PHR with v [emphasis]
28.
On the flat means on level ground.
He had angina and was unable to walk for more than 200 yards on the flat.
PHRASE
29.
Flat
·vi To fall form the pitch.
II. Flat ·noun A homaloid space or extension.
III. Flat ·noun Something broad and flat in form.
IV. Flat ·adv In a flat manner; directly; flatly.
V. Flat ·noun A dull fellow; a simpleton; a numskull.
VI. Flat ·adv Without allowance for accrued interest.
VII. Flat ·noun A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned.
VIII. Flat ·superl Not sharp or shrill; not acute; as, a flat sound.
IX. Flat ·noun A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught.
X. Flat ·add. ·adj Flattening at the ends;
- said of certain fruits.
XI. Flat ·vi To become flat, or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface.
XII. Flat ·superl Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright.
XIII. Flat ·vt To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to Depress.
XV. Flat ·superl Tasteless; stale; vapid; insipid; dead; as, fruit or drink flat to the taste.
XVI. Flat ·noun A car without a roof, the body of which is a platform without sides; a platform car.
XVII. Flat ·add. ·adj Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft;
- said of a club.
XVIII. Flat ·noun A platform on wheel, upon which emblematic designs, ·etc., are carried in processions.
XIX. Flat ·vt To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.
XX. Flat ·noun A character [/] before a note, indicating a tone which is a half step or semitone lower.
XXI. Flat ·superl Wanting relief; destitute of variety; without points of prominence and striking interest.
XXII. Flat ·noun The flat part, or side, of anything; as, the broad side of a blade, as distinguished from its edge.
XXIII. Flat ·superl Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull; as, the market is flat.
XXIV. Flat ·superl Unanimated; dull; uninteresting; without point or spirit; monotonous; as, a flat speech or composition.
XXV. Flat ·noun A floor, loft, or story in a building; especially, a floor of a house, which forms a complete residence in itself.
XXVI. Flat ·superl Below the true pitch; hence, as applied to intervals, minor, or lower by a half step; as, a flat seventh; A flat.
XXVII. Flat ·noun A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.
XXVIII. Flat ·superl Having an even and horizontal surface, or nearly so, without prominences or depressions; level without inclination; plane.
XXIX. Flat ·superl Sonant; vocal;
- applied to any one of the sonant or vocal consonants, as distinguished from a nonsonant (or sharp) consonant.
XXX. Flat ·noun 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.
XXXI. Flat ·superl 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.
XXXII. Flat ·noun 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.
XXXIII. Flat ·add. ·adj Not having an inflectional ending or sign, as a noun used as an adjective, or an adjective as an adverb, without the addition of a formative suffix, or an infinitive without the sign to. Many flat adverbs, as in run fast, buy cheap, are from ·AS adverbs in -e, the loss of this ending having made them like the adjectives. Some having forms in ly, such as exceeding, wonderful, true, are now archaic.
flat
flat1
¦ adjective (flatter, flattest)
1. having a level surface; without raised areas or indentations.
not sloping.
having a broad level surface but little height or depth: a flat box.
(of shoes) without high heels.
2. dull; lifeless: a flat voice.
showing little or no activity: sales were flat.
(of a photograph) lacking contrast.
3. (of a sparkling drink) having lost its effervescence.
4. Brit. (of a battery) having exhausted its charge.
5. (of something kept inflated) having lost some or all of its air.
6. (of a fee, charge, or price) unvarying; fixed: a flat rate of ?250.
7. (of a negative statement) definite and firm: a flat denial.
8. (of musical sound) below true or normal pitch.
[postposition] (of a key) having a flat or flats in the signature.
[postposition] (of a note) a semitone lower than a specified note.
¦ adverb
1. in or to a horizontal position.
lying in close juxtaposition to a surface.
so as to become level and even.
2. informal completely; absolutely: I'm turning you down flat.
3. emphasizing the speed of an action or task: prepare a meal in ten minutes flat.
4. below the true or normal pitch of musical sound.
¦ noun
1. the flat part of something.
(flats) shoes with a very low heel or no heel.
2. (flats) an area of low level ground, especially near water.
3. informal a flat tyre.
4. an upright section of stage scenery.
5. (the Flat) Brit. flat racing.
6. a musical note lowered a semitone below natural pitch.
the sign ([s]3ZCCGQGCV2_F462E3E6.bmp[/s]) indicating this.
7. N. Amer. a shallow container in which seedlings are grown.
¦ verb (flats, flatting, flatted)
1. [usu. as adjective flatted] N. Amer. Music lower (a note) by a semitone.
2. archaic flatten.
Phrases
fall flat fail to produce the intended effect.
flat out
1. as fast or as hard as possible.
2. informal, chiefly N. Amer. unequivocally.
3. lying down in a state of exhaustion.
Derivatives
flatly adverb
flatness noun
flattish adjective
Origin
ME: from ON flatr.
--------
flat2
¦ noun chiefly Brit. a set of rooms comprising an individual place of residence within a larger building.
¦ verb (flats, flatting, flatted) Austral./NZ live in or share a flat.
Phrases
go flatting Austral./NZ leave one's family home to live in a flat.
Derivatives
flatlet noun
Origin
C19: alt. of obs. flet 'floor, dwelling', of Gmc origin and related to flat1.
Examples of use of flat
1. Flat–bed seats (completely flat and parallel to the floor) and lie–flat seats (completely flat but positioned at a slight angle) are becoming the industry standard.
2. Suddenly, being a flat–taxer has all the credibility of being a flat–earther.
3. Shares of NetVision ended flat as a pancake after the company reported that its quarterly results were also pretty flat.
4. Spacious: the 3 million Eaton Place flat A one–bedroom flat is on the market for more than 3 million.
5. Eliezer Fishman‘s company Industrial Buildings ended flat.