flaunt
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flaunt¹
- /flɔːnt/ UK
- /flɔnt/ Australia
- /flɑnt/ US, cot caught merger
Rhymes with -ɔːnt
Where it comes from
Of North Germanic origin. Perhaps related to Norwegian flanta (“to show off, wander about”), Icelandic flana (“to rush about, act rashly or heedlessly”) and then also to French flâner (“to wander around, loiter”).
Alternatively, it could be related to Swedish flankt (“loosely, flutteringly”) (compare English flaunt-a-flaunt), from flanka (“waver, hang and wave about, ramble”), a nasalised variant of flakka (“to waver”), related to Middle English flacken (“to move to and fro, flutter, palpitate”). See flack.
verb flaunts · flaunting · flaunted · flant
- To wave or flutter smartly in the wind. The black, rich soil had fed itself with the decay of a long period of time; such as fallen leaves, the petals of flowers, and the stalks and seed-vessels of vagrant and lawless plants, more useful after their death than ever while flaunting in the sun.
- To parade, display with ostentation. Near-synonym: vaunt
- To show off, as with flashy clothing. You Sot, ſays ſhe, you loyter about Alehouſes and Taverns, ſpend your Time at Billiards, Nine-pins or Puppet-ſhovvs, or flaunt about the Streets in your nevv gilt Chariot, never minding me nor your numerous Family; […]
noun flaunts · flant
- Anything displayed for show. Should I , in these my borrow'd flaunts, behold The sternness of his presence?
flaunt²
- /flɔːnt/ UK
- /flɔnt/ Australia
- /flɑnt/ US, cot caught merger
Rhymes with -ɔːnt
Where it comes from
By confusion with flout.
verb flaunts · flaunting · flaunted
- To flout. By that late date, however, the golden age of the lurid paperback book was pretty much over, and the sort of punishment meted out to Aday and Maxey for flaunting the sexual mores of a McCarthyite culture would soon be a thing of the past.
