flat out
Adjective
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Adjective
flat out (not comparable)
- Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see flat, out
- 1967 October 6, Dora Jane Hamblin, Out to Sea and into History, LIFE, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=2UwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26&dq=%22flat+out%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KedRT9rDJ7GfmQXpm-iJCg&ved=0CGwQ6AEwCTh4#v=onepage&q=%22flat%20out%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 29]
- So many of them took pictures, of themselves and of me, that we ran flat out of black-and-white film the second day out, and there wasn′t a Queen Mary necktie to be had in the shops after we left the port.
- 1967 October 6, Dora Jane Hamblin, Out to Sea and into History, LIFE, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=2UwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26&dq=%22flat+out%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KedRT9rDJ7GfmQXpm-iJCg&ved=0CGwQ6AEwCTh4#v=onepage&q=%22flat%20out%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 29]
- Complete, total, downright.
- The slob vs. the neatnik. The artist vs. the precision-freak. The freethinker vs. the tightass. Liberal vs. conservative. Jock vs. nerd. David vs. Goliath. Good vs. evil. Beauty and the Beast. Jekyll
[ sic] and Hyde.
- The slob vs. the neatnik. The artist vs. the precision-freak. The freethinker vs. the tightass. Liberal vs. conservative. Jock vs. nerd. David vs. Goliath. Good vs. evil. Beauty and the Beast. Jekyll
- 2008, Shira Tarrant, Jackson Katz, Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex, and Power, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=XQXqxfMGpKYC&pg=PA148&dq=%22flat+out%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nt1RT_ziLsiriAeTh-n5Cw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwADhk#v=onepage&q=%22flat%20out%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 148],
- I put up with a lot from them: sexist and racist jokes, routine descriptions of masculinist sexploitation, flat-out ridicule for my feminist views.
- Very busy.
- (Australian) Lazy, sleeping.
- flat out (like a lizard in the sun) - doing absolutely nothing
flat out (not comparable)
- (idiomatic) At top speed.
- After 10 minutes of running flat out, he was out of breath.
- 1966 November, Steve McQueen, Motorcycles: What I like in a Bike - and why, Popular Science, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=kSkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&dq=%22flat+out%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ENZRT4CFDMqXiAf1gvHhCw&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAzhG#v=onepage&q=%22flat%20out%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 80],
- I was already sliding and too dedicated to change my line and just went flat out completely off the course.
- 1979 November, Bob Brister, Apache Antelope, Field & Stream, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=v58DzURwskkC&pg=PA128&dq=%22flat+out%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1OVRT4r1HYKSiAe4rNjuCw&ved=0CEYQ6AEwAzhu#v=onepage&q=%22flat%20out%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 128],
- When antelope are running flat out, they resemble very rapidly departing dots; some say they can hit 60 mph.
- (idiomatic) Bluntly, no holds barred, totally, outright.
- She thought it was best to tell him she didn't love him flat out.
- He was flat out furious when his car was stolen.
- 2003 October, Fool Speed Ahead, Cincinnati Magazine, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=4AsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA128&dq=%22flat+out%22+australia+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mYBRT9fOE4eaiQe1guXyCw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22flat%20out%22%20australia%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 128],
- “You′re gonna die,” he flat-out told Arfons.
- 2005 March, Seth Masia, Almost Hits, Mostly Misses, Skiing Heritage: Journal of the International Skiing History Association, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=b1gEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA35&dq=%22flat+out%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nt1RT_ziLsiriAeTh-n5Cw&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAzhk#v=onepage&q=%22flat%20out%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 35],
- Sometimes an eagerly promoted product turns out to be a joke — and sometimes it′s just flat out dangerous to life, limb, or commerce.
- 2006, Tony Rossi, Critique by guest commentator: Dr. Tony Rossi, Stephen Hagan, Australia's Blackest Sporting Moments: The Top 100, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=hfKmwE5HGI4C&pg=PA129&dq=%22flat+out%22+australia+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mYBRT9fOE4eaiQe1guXyCw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false page 129],
- The media (in all its forms) has been known to stoop to even lower levels by flat out abusing non-whites such as the Bulletin's little description of Patrick Bowman reported above and then the Referee's self-congratulatory note that Evans (the Balmain nigger ped) had found gainful employment (at which he was 'very handy' rather than competent or skilled) and had ceased to waste everybody's time with his running.
- 2008 March, Martha Lunken, Lost in a DC-3 Over Georgia, Flying, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=hZ6SZB2CZkIC&pg=PA64&dq=%22flat+out%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=p9lRT4-zN4iZiQe13vD0Cw&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAThQ#v=onepage&q=%22flat%20out%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 64],
- But I was disappointed and really unhappy with myself because I′d given in to a gut reaction that was flat-out wrong.
flat out (plural flat outs)
- (US, dated) A total failure.
- A baked portion of flatbread; a baked item that is not meant to rise.
- 1881, Mary E. Jackson, The Spy of Osawatomie; Or, The Mysterious Companions of Old John Brown, page 296 ↗,
- His hands were of the same somber hue as the bare feet of the children who clustered near the table, looking toward it whistfully
[ sic] until the eldest mustered sufficient courage to ask his mother for "one of 'em yere flat-outs."
- His hands were of the same somber hue as the bare feet of the children who clustered near the table, looking toward it whistfully
- 1881, Mary E. Jackson, The Spy of Osawatomie; Or, The Mysterious Companions of Old John Brown, page 296 ↗,
- (food) A wrap, an item of food consisting of various ingredients wrapped in a tortilla or pancake.
- (skiing) A section of piste that is relatively flat, causing or allowing skiers to slow down.
- 1979 November, Tamsin Venn, The Pleasures of Keystone, Skiing (magazine) page 107 ↗,
- The would-be daredevils are mercifully prevented from going too fast by strategically placed flat-outs.
- 1979 November, Tamsin Venn, The Pleasures of Keystone, Skiing (magazine) page 107 ↗,
- (motor racing, horse racing) A uncambered corner of racetrack; a racetrack whose corners are uncambered.
- 1952, Motor, Volume 102, Issue 2654, page 31 ↗,
- The circuit is very well endowed with corners of all sorts from hairpins to flat-outs, has a 1,540-yd. straight and measures 5.2 miles, partly on an airfield, partly through a built-up area.
- 1952, Motor, Volume 102, Issue 2654, page 31 ↗,
flat out
- (intransitive) To fail after a promising beginning; to disappoint expectations.
- 1894, Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Abroad, 2015, Tom Sawyer Collection: All Four Books, Enhanced Media, page 413 ↗,
- I see myself there warn't no sense in the tale, to chop square off that way before it come to anything, but I warn't going to say so, because I could see Tom was souring up pretty fast over the way it flatted out […] .
- 1894, Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Abroad, 2015, Tom Sawyer Collection: All Four Books, Enhanced Media, page 413 ↗,
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002