flat·ter /ˈflætɚ/
 (vt.)過分誇讚,奉承,阿諛,使高興


 Flat a. [Compar. Flatter superl. Flattest ]
 1. Having an even and horizontal surface, or nearly so, without prominences or depressions; level without inclination; plane.
 Though sun and moon
 Were in the flat sea sunk.   --Milton.
 2. Lying at full length, or spread out, upon the ground; level with the ground or earth; prostrate; as, to lie flat on the ground; hence, fallen; laid low; ruined; destroyed.
    What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat!   --Milton.
    I feel . . . my hopes all flat.   --Milton.
 3. Fine Arts Wanting relief; destitute of variety; without points of prominence and striking interest.
    A large part of the work is, to me, very flat.   --Coleridge.
 4. Tasteless; stale; vapid; insipid; dead; as, fruit or drink flat to the taste.
 5. Unanimated; dull; uninteresting; without point or spirit; monotonous; as, a flat speech or composition.
 How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
 Seem to me all the uses of this world.   --Shak.
 6. Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull; as, the market is flat.
 7. Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright.
 Syn: -- flat-out.
    Flat burglary as ever was committed.   --Shak.
    A great tobacco taker too, -- that's flat.   --Marston.
 8. Mus. (a) Below the true pitch; hence, as applied to intervals, minor, or lower by a half step; as, a flat seventh; A flat. (b) Not sharp or shrill; not acute; as, a flat sound.
 9. Phonetics Sonant; vocal; -- applied to any one of the sonant or vocal consonants, as distinguished from a nonsonant (or sharp) consonant.
 10. Golf Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft; -- said of a club.
 11.  Gram. Not having an inflectional ending or sign, as a noun used as an adjective, or an adjective as an adverb, without the addition of a formative suffix, or an infinitive without the sign to. Many flat adverbs, as in run fast, buy cheap, are from AS. adverbs in -ë, the loss of this ending having made them like the adjectives. Some having forms in ly, such as exceeding, wonderful, true, are now archaic.
 12.  Hort. Flattening at the ends; -- said of certain fruits.
 Flat arch. Arch. See under Arch, n., 2. (b).
 Flat cap, cap paper, not folded. See under Paper.
 Flat chasing, in fine art metal working, a mode of ornamenting silverware, etc., producing figures by dots and lines made with a punching tool. --Knight.
 Flat chisel, a sculptor's chisel for smoothing.
 Flat file, a file wider than its thickness, and of rectangular section. See File.
 Flat nail, a small, sharp-pointed, wrought nail, with a flat, thin head, larger than a tack. --Knight.
 Flat paper, paper which has not been folded.
 Flat rail, a railroad rail consisting of a simple flat bar spiked to a longitudinal sleeper.
 Flat rods Mining, horizontal or inclined connecting rods, for transmitting motion to pump rods at a distance. --Raymond.
 Flat rope, a rope made by plaiting instead of twisting; gasket; sennit.
 Note: Some flat hoisting ropes, as for mining shafts, are made by sewing together a number of ropes, making a wide, flat band. --Knight.
 Flat space. Geom. See Euclidian space.
 Flat stitch, the process of wood engraving. [Obs.]
 Flat tint Painting, a coat of water color of one uniform shade.
 To fall flat (Fig.), to produce no effect; to fail in the intended effect; as, his speech fell flat.
 Of all who fell by saber or by shot,
 Not one fell half so flat as Walter Scott.   --Lord Erskine.


 Flat·ter n.
 1. One who, or that which, makes flat or flattens.
 2. Metal Working (a) A flat-faced fulling hammer. (b) A drawplate with a narrow, rectangular orifice, for drawing flat strips, as watch springs, etc.


 Flat·ter v. t. [imp. & p. p. Flattered p. pr. & vb. n. Flattering.]
 1. To treat with praise or blandishments; to gratify or attempt to gratify the self-love or vanity of, esp. by artful and interested commendation or attentions; to blandish; to cajole; to wheedle.
 When I tell him he hates flatterers,
 He says he does, being then most flattered.   --Shak.
    A man that flattereth his neighbor, spreadeth a net for his feet.   --Prov. xxix. 5.
    Others he flattered by asking their advice.   --Prescott.
 2. To raise hopes in; to encourage or favorable, but sometimes unfounded or deceitful, representations.
 3. To portray too favorably; to give a too favorable idea of; as, his portrait flatters him.


 Flat·ter, v. i. To use flattery or insincere praise.
 If it may stand him more in stead to lie,
 Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or adjure.   --Milton.

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 flat
      adj 1: having a horizontal surface in which no part is higher or
             lower than another; "a flat desk"; "acres of level
             farmland"; "a plane surface" [syn: level, plane]
      2: having no depth or thickness
      3: not modified or restricted by reservations; "a categorical
         denial"; "a flat refusal" [syn: categoric, categorical,
          unconditional]
      4: stretched out and lying at full length along the ground;
         "found himself lying flat on the floor" [syn: prostrate]
      5: lacking contrast or shading between tones [ant: contrasty]
      6: lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone; "B flat" [ant: natural,
          sharp]
      7: flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain
         leafstalks or flatfishes) [syn: compressed]
      8: lacking taste or flavor or tang; "a bland diet"; "insipid
         hospital food"; "flavorless supermarket tomatoes"; "vapid
         beer"; "vapid tea" [syn: bland, flavorless, flavourless,
          insipid, savorless, savourless, vapid]
      9: lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting; "a bland
         little drama"; "a flat joke" [syn: bland]
      10: having lost effervescence; "flat beer"; "a flat cola"
      11: not increasing as the amount taxed increases [syn: fixed]
      12: not made with leavening; "most flat breads are made from
          unleavened dough" [syn: unraised]
      13: parallel to the ground; "a flat roof"
      14: without pleats [syn: unpleated]
      15: lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an
          illusion or depth; "a film with two-dimensional
          characters"; "a flat two-dimensional painting" [syn: two-dimensional]
      16: (of a tire) completely or partially deflated
      17: not reflecting light; not glossy; "flat wall paint"; "a
          photograph with a matte finish" [syn: mat, matt, matte,
           matted]
      18: lacking variety in shading; "a flat unshaded painting"
      n 1: a level tract of land
      2: a shallow box in which seedlings are started
      3: a musical notation indicating one half step lower than the
         note named
      4: freight car without permanent sides or roof [syn: flatcar,
          flatbed]
      5: a deflated pneumatic tire [syn: flat tire]
      6: scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted
         canvas; part of a stage setting
      7: a suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house
         [syn: apartment]
      adv 1: at full length; "he fell flat on his face"
      2: with flat sails; "sail flat against the wind"
      3: below the proper pitch; "she sang flat last night"
      4: against a flat surface; "he lay flat on his back"
      5: in a forthright manner; candidly or frankly; "he didn't
         answer directly"; "told me straight out"; "came out flat
         for less work and more pay" [syn: directly, straight]
         [ant: indirectly]
      6: wholly or completely; "He is flat broke"
      [also: flatting, flatted, flattest, flatter]


 flatter
      v : praise somewhat dishonestly [syn: blandish] [ant: disparage]


 flatter
      See flat