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flank

verb
/ˈflæŋk//ˈfleɪ̯ŋk/CA

Etymology

From Late Middle English flanc, from Late Old English flanc (“flank”), from Old French flanc, of Germanic origin, probably Frankish *hlanca, from Proto-West Germanic *hlanku (“bend, curve, hip, flank”), from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“flexible, sleek, bendsome”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng- (“to bend”). Akin to Old High German hlanca (“loin”), Middle Low German lanke (“hip joint”) (German lenken (“to bend, turn, lead”)), Old English hlanc (“loose, slender, flaccid, lank”). More at lank.

  1. derived from *kleng-✻ — “to bend”
  2. derived from *hlankaz✻ — “flexible, sleek, bendsome”
  3. derived from *hlanku✻ — “bend, curve, hip, flank”
  4. derived from *hlanca✻
  5. derived from flanc
  6. inherited from flanc — “flank”
  7. inherited from flanc

Definitions

  1. To attack the flank(s) of.

  2. To defend the flank(s) of.

  3. To place to the side(s) of.

    • Stately colonnades are flank'd with trees.
    • It was a rural railway that served the fertile Fens of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. But because it flanked public roads and was unfenced (to save costs), it was deemed a tramway and its locomotives had to be fitted with a cowcatcher.
  4. ›+ 12 more definitions

    1. To be placed to the side(s) of something (usually in terms of two objects, one on each…

      To be placed to the side(s) of something (usually in terms of two objects, one on each side).

    2. The lateral flesh between the last rib and the hip.

      • Holonym: side

    3. A cut of meat from the flank of an animal.

    4. The extreme left or right edge of a military formation, army etc.

    5. The sides of a bastion perpendicular to the wall from which the bastion projects.

    6. The side of something, in general senses.

      • Cautiously I approached the flank of the cliffs, where they terminated in an abrupt escarpment as though some all powerful hand had broken off a great section of rock and set it upon the surface of the earth.
      • Ahead the flanks of the Pennines gleamed faintly in the moonlight, looking as though they themselves were part of some dry and deserted lunar landscape.

    7. Either of the two pockets located on the seat of a pair of pants.

      • I took the quarter and hid it in my right flank.

    8. An ideological faction within a political party.

      • Ford survived a primary challenge in 1976 from the right flank of the Republican Party by Ronald Reagan.

    9. The outermost strip of a road.

    10. The wing, one side of the pitch.

      • The hosts also had Paul Robinson to thank for a string of saves, three of them coming against Jerome Thomas, who gave Michel Salgado a torrid time down the left flank.

    11. That part of the acting surface of a gear wheel tooth that lies within the pitch line.

    12. Maximum. Historically faster than full speed (the most a vessel can sustain without…

      Maximum. Historically faster than full speed (the most a vessel can sustain without excessive engine wear or risk of damage), now frequently used interchangeably. Typically used in an emergency or during an attack.

      • All ahead flank!

The neighborhood

Derived

flankable, flanker, outflank, flankwise

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for flank. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA