fluidity (floiditi)

[= F. fluid ité = It. flu idità; Piquet gave "discard" to the language; why should bil. liards be forbidden to contribute Auke, a far better word as regards form, and one absolutely without a synonym? N. and Q., 7th ser., I. 42. The discovery which finally drove English geology out of a position which had long been untenable was made by a fluke. N. and Q., 7th ser., I. 42. To cut flukes out, in whaling: (a) To throw the tail out of the water sidewise and upward, as a whale: an indication that the animal has taken fright and seeks to escape. Hence -(b) To become refractory or mutinous; make a disturbance on board ship. - To turn flukes, in whaling: (a) To round out and go under, throwing the flukes high in the air, as a whale. Hence-(b) To go to bed; bunk or turn in. flukel (flök), v.; pret. and pp. fluked, ppr. fluk ing. [ or rope. II. in trans. 1. In whaling , to use the flukes, as a fish or cetacean: often with an indefinite it .-2. To gain an advantage over a competitor or opponent by accident or chance; especially, to make a scratch in billiards. See flukel, n., 5. [Slang.]- All fluking ( naut . ), a phrase used to indicate that a ship goes along rapidly with a fair wind. We arrived on the following day, having gone all fluking, with the weather clew of the mainsail hauled up, the yards braced in a little, and the lower studding sail just draw ing. R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 285.