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floss

noun
/flɒs/UK/flɔs/US/flɑs/

Etymology

Unclear: * Possibly from French floche (“tuft of wool”), from floc, from Old French flosche (“down, velvet”), from Latin floccus (“piece of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokkō (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkô (“down, piece of wool, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). * Or, from Middle English *flos (attested in Middle English Flosmonger (a surname)), from Proto-West Germanic *fleus, related to English fleece. Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”), Dutch flos (“plush”) (tr=17c.).

  1. derived from *fleus✻
  2. inherited from *flos✻
  3. derived from *plewk-✻ — “hair, fibres, tuft”
  4. derived from *flukkô✻ — “down, piece of wool, flock”
  5. derived from *flokkō✻ — “down, wool, flock”
  6. derived from floccus — “piece of wool”
  7. derived from flosche — “down, velvet”
  8. borrowed from floche

Definitions

  1. A thread used to clean the gaps between the teeth.

  2. Raw silk fibres.

  3. The fibres covering a corncob etc.

    The fibres covering a corncob etc.; the loose downy or silky material inside the husks of certain plants, such as beans.

  4. ›+ 11 more definitions

    1. Any thread-like material having parallel strands that are not spun or wound around each…

      Any thread-like material having parallel strands that are not spun or wound around each other.

      • embroidery floss

    2. Spun sugar or cotton candy, especially in the phrase "candy floss".

    3. A body feather of an ostrich.

      • Flosses are soft, and grey from the female and black from the male.

    4. A dance move in which the dancer repeatedly swings their arms, with clenched fists, from…

      A dance move in which the dancer repeatedly swings their arms, with clenched fists, from the back of their body to the front, on each side.

    5. To clean the area between (the teeth) using floss.

      • I don't floss very often.
      • I floss my teeth twice a day.

    6. To show off, especially by exhibiting one's wealth or talent.

      • As the label's name no doubt implies, these rappers aren't your typical crew, even if they still like to floss and represent their city.
      • It's impossible to floss wealth without attracting envy.

    7. To perform the floss dance move.

    8. A small stream of water.

    9. Fluid glass floating on iron in the puddling furnace, produced by the vitrification of…

      Fluid glass floating on iron in the puddling furnace, produced by the vitrification of oxides and earths which are present.

    10. The common rush (Juncus effusus).

    11. Abbreviation of free/libre/open source software.

      • FLOSS has proven to be an extremely valuable tool for accelerating research in various fields of IT and engineering in order to address the needs of society in the future.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for floss. 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