• flower(obsolete)

Spelled (until about 1830) and meaningflower in the sense offlour being the "finest portion of ground grain" (compareFrenchfleur de farine,fine fleur).Doublet offlower. Partially displaced nativemeal.

The U.S. standard of identity comes from21CFR137.105.

• (UK)enPR:flou'ərIPA^(key):/ˈflaʊ̯.ə/
• (US,Canada)IPA^(key):/ˈflaʊ̯.ɚ/

  • Audio(US):

    (file)

• (India)enPR:flärIPA^(key):/flaː(r)/
• (Singapore)enPR:flärIPA^(key):/flɑː/^[1]
• (Philippines)IPA^(key):/fləɹ/,/flɑɹ/
• Rhymes:-aʊə(ɹ)
• Homophone:flower (for people who pronounceflour as two syllables orflower as one)

flour (usuallyuncountable,pluralflours)

2. Powder obtained bygrinding ormillingcerealgrains, especiallywheat, or otherfoodstuffs such assoybeans andpotatoes, and used to bakebread,cakes, andpastry.

   Hyponyms:cornflour,rice flour,rye flour,wheatflour,wheat flour;beanflour;bread flour,pastry flour,all-purpose flour,self-raising flour,self-rising flour

   Coordinate term:meal(precisely coordinate;broadly synonymous)

   • 1963,Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, inThe China Governess: A Mystery, London:Chatto & Windus,→OCLC:

     Everything a living animal could do to destroy and to desecrate bed and walls had been done.[…]  A canister offlour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.

3. (USstandards of identity) The food made bygrinding andbolting cleaned wheat (notdurum orreddurum) until it meets specified levels offineness,dryness, and freedom frombran andgerm, also containing any of certainenzymes,ascorbic acid, and certain bleaching agents.

   Synonyms:smeddum,plain flour,wheat flour,wheatmeal,white flour

4. Powder of other material.

   Hyponyms:wood flour;glacial flour,rock flour

   mustardflour

5. Obsolete form offlower.
   • 1886 May,Thomas Hardy,The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. […], volume(please specify |volume=I or II), London:Smith, Elder & Co., […],→OCLC:

     that nobody is wished to see my dead body. & that no murnurs walk behind me at my funeral. & that noflours be planted on my grave.

• → Drehu:falawa
• → Maori:parāoa
• → Palauan:blauang
• → West Uvean:falawa

• bran
• farina
• meal
• smeddum
• wheatmeal

flour (third-person singular simple presentflours,present participleflouring,simple past and past participlefloured)

1. (transitive) To apply flour to something; to cover with flour.
2. (transitive) To reduce to flour.
3. (intransitive) To break up into fineglobules ofmercury in theamalgamation process.

• fluor,fluor-,four L,furol,orful,rufol

• flowr

• IPA^(key):[fluːɹ]

flour

1. flower,choice(best of a collective)

flour m (pluralflourys)

1. (botany)flower
2. flower(the best of a collective)

• blejen,bleujen,blejan
• flowren

Borrowed fromAnglo-Normanflur, fromLatinflōrem, accusative offlōs. More atflower.

• fflour,fflowr,fleur,flor,floure,flower,flowr,flowre,flowyr,flur

• IPA^(key):/fluːr/

flour (pluralfloures)

1. Aflower(often representingimpermanence orbeauty)
   • 1387–1400,[Geoffrey] Chaucer, “Here Bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunt́burẏ”, inThe Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion:National Library of Wales, published [c. 1400–1410],→OCLC,folio 2, recto:

     Whan that Auerill w^t his shoures soote / The droghte of march hath ꝑced to the roote / And bathed euery veyne in swich lycour / Of which v̄tu engendred is theflour[…]

     When that April, with its sweet showers / Has pierced March's drought to the root / And bathed every vein in fluid such that / with its power, theflower is made[…]

2. Adepiction orlikeness of a flower.
3. Success orachievement in a contest;victoriousness.
4. Avirtue orbenefit; somethingdesirable.
5. That which isunparalleled; thetop or most superior.
6. Flour(i.e. the best part of a grain)
7. Apowder; especially one which iswhite like flour.
8. Anexemplar orexample of atrait orbehaviour.
9. A woman'smenstruation/period.
10. (rare)Virginhood;sexualabstinence.

• flourdelis
• flouren
• flourynge
• floury
• lilie flour

• English:flower,flour
• Scots:flouer,flour,floor
• → Middle Welsh:fflwr
  • Welsh:fflŵr

• “flǒur,n.(1).”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007, retrieved2019-09-25.
• “flǒur,n.(2).”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007, retrieved2019-09-25.

FromOld Englishflōr.

flour

1. Alternative form offlor

flour f (pluralflours)

1. (Mistralian)Alternative spelling offlor(“flower”)

flouroblique singular, f (oblique pluralflours,nominative singularflour,nominative pluralflours)

1. Alternative form offlor
   • 1377,Bernard de Gordon,Fleur de lis de medecine (a.k.a. lilium medicine), page136 of this essay:

     non pasque lesflours touchent a la chair nue car ce seroit doubte que les porres ne se clousissent et de fievre putride.

     but not that the flowers should touch the naked flesh because this may cause the pores to shut with a putrid fever.

flour f (pluralflours)

1. (Surmiran)Alternative form offlur(“flower”)

• flouer

FromMiddle Englishflour, fromAnglo-Normanflur, fromLatinflōrem, accusative offlōs. More atEnglishflower.

• IPA^(key):/ˈfluːr/

flour (pluralflours)

1. aflower
2. abouquet(bunch of flowers)
3. (uncountable)Wheatflour

flour (third-person singular simple presentflours,present participleflourin,simple pastflourt,past participleflourt)

1. toembroider