- a small, flat, thin piece, especially one that has been or become detached from a larger piece or mass: flakes of old paint.
- any small piece or mass: a flake of snow.
- a stratum or layer.
- an eccentric person; screwball: My sister's new boyfriend is a real flake—I can't imagine why she goes out with him.
- cocaine.
- a usually broad, often irregular piece of stone struck from a larger core and sometimes retouched to form a flake tool.
- to peel off or separate in flakes.
- to fall in flakes, as snow.
- to remove in flakes.
- to break flakes or chips from; break into flakes: to flake fish for a casserole.
- to cover with or as if with flakes.
- to form into flakes.
- a frame, as for drying fish.
- fake2 (def. 1).
- to lower (a fore-and-aft sail) so as to drape the sail equally on both sides over its boom.
- to back out of a plan, promise, engagement, agreement, etc.; fail to follow through on something (usually followed by out): We had a 3 o’clock appointment, but he flaked on me an hour before.
- to fall asleep; take a nap (usually followed by out): She drank way too much and flaked out on my couch.
- a small thin piece or layer chipped off or detached from an object or substance; scale
- a small piece or particle
- a thin layer or stratum
- archaeol
- a fragment removed by chipping or hammering from a larger stone used as a tool or weapon
- (as modifier)
- an eccentric, crazy, or unreliable person
- to peel or cause to peel off in flakes; chip
- to cover or become covered with or as with flakes
- to form into flakes
- a rack or platform for drying fish or other produce
- nautical another word for fake 1
- (in Australia) the commercial name for the meat of the gummy shark
