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IMG:content-1722.png:[blocks in formation] 4. A shallow; a level piece of ground or strand lying at a small depth below the surface of the water; a shoal. "I should not see the sandy hour-gla run, But I should think of shallows and of flats ." Shakesp.: Merchant of Venice , 1. 1. 5. Anything broad and flat in form; as(1) A river-boat or barge for carrying produce, coal, merchandise, ., in shallow waters. (2) The broad side of a blade. "The officer stormed, and drawing his sword out of the scabbard, struck O'Brien with the flat of the blade."Marryatt: Peter Simple , ch. xix. IMG:content-1723.png:[blocks in formation] (U.S. Colloq.) (4) A platform truck. ( U.S. Colloq .) (5) The palm of the hand. (3) The story or floor in a house, especially when occupied by a single family. (7) A foolish fellow; a simpleton; a gull; one who is easily duped. ( Eng . Colloq .) "No, no, not such a confounded flat as that." Thack eray: New comes , ch. xvi. IMG:content-1724.png:[blocks in formation] 1. Arch .: That part of the covering or roof of a house which is laid horizontal and covered with lead, or other material. 2. Button - making: A piece of bone for a button blank. 3. Carding : A strip of wood clothed with bent teeth, and placed above the large cylinder of a carding-machine. The clothing is known as the flat top-cards, in contradistinction to the cards which clothe the drum, licker-in, card-rollers, teazer, and doffer, whose surfaces are curved. 4. Gilding : A surface of size over gilding. 5. Music : The sign which directs the lowering of the tone to which it is prefixed by one semitone. Its shape is derived from the ancient b . A double semitones. 10. Downright, peremptory, absolute, positive; flat, bo, lowers the note to which it is prefixed two not or softened. "I will, that's flat."-Shakesp.: Henry IV., Pt. I., 1. 3. 11. Absolute, downright, rank. "That in the captain's but a choleric word Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy." Shakesp.: Measure for Measure , ii. 2. 12. Not shrill or acute; without sharpne or acute ne . "The upper end of the windpipe is endued with several cartilages and muscles to contract or dilate it, as we would have our voice flat or sharp."-Ray: On the Creation. 13. Dull, without animation or briskne , depre ed. II. Technically : 1. Art : Wanting relief or prominence of the figures. 2. Arch .: Applied to arches which have only a small rise from the springing to the crown. "This Saxon style begins to be defined by flat and round arches." - Walpole : Anecdotes of Painting, vol. i., ch. v. 3. Gram .: Applied to those letters in which the enunciation of voice (as opposed to breath) is heard. It is opposed to sharp ; such letters are b, d, g, v, . IMG:content-1725.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-1726.png:[blocks in formation] 8. The at .: One of the halves of a scene or part of a scene, formed by two equal portions pushed from the sides of the stage, and meeting in the middle. To fall flat : To produce no effect; to fail in the intended effect. (1) Crabb thus discriminates between flat and level: " Flat is said of a thing with regard to itself; it is opposed to the round or protuberant: level as it respects another; it is opposed to the uneven: a country is flat which has no elevation; a wall is level with the roof of a house when it rises to the height of the roof." ( Crabb : Eng . Synon .) (2) For the difference between flat and insipid , see INSIPID. flat-aft, a. Naut .: A term used to denote the position of sails when their surfaces are pre ed aft against the mast by the force of the wind. flat-arch, s. Arch.: [FLAT, a., II. 2.] flat-band, s. Arch.: A plain, square impost. chin, bench; go, gem; thin, this; flat-fishes, s. pl. Ichthy.: The family Pleuronectide, containing the Sole, the Plaice, the Turbot, the Halibut, the Brill, . They are compre ed or flattened laterally, not vertically as is often erroneously supposed. One side is generally dark colored, the other white and silvery. For the sake of concealment they rest upon the light side, leaving only the dark one more or le imperfectly visible. [PLEURONECTIDE.] flat-footed, a. 1. Lit .: Having flat feet, that is, feet with very little or no hollow in the sole, and a low instep. 2. Fig . Firm-footed, resolute, honest.