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Floss
Definitions
- 1 A thread used to clean the gaps between the teeth. countable, uncountable
- 2 A small stream of water. UK
- 3 The common rush (Juncus effusus). Northern-England, Scotland
- 4 Abbreviation of free/libre/open source software. abbreviation, alt-of, uncountable
"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."
- 5 a soft thread for cleaning the spaces between the teeth wordnet
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- 6 Raw silk fibres. countable, uncountable
- 7 Fluid glass floating on iron in the puddling furnace, produced by the vitrification of oxides and earths which are present.
- 8 a soft loosely twisted thread used in embroidery wordnet
- 9 The fibres covering a corncob etc.; the loose downy or silky material inside the husks of certain plants, such as beans. countable, uncountable
- 10 Any thread-like material having parallel strands that are not spun or wound around each other. countable, uncountable
"embroidery floss"
- 11 Spun sugar or cotton candy, especially in the phrase "candy floss". British, countable, uncountable
- 12 A body feather of an ostrich. countable, uncountable
"Flosses are soft, and grey from the female and black from the male."
- 13 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. countable, uncountable
- 1 To clean the area between (the teeth) using floss. ambitransitive
"I don't floss very often."
- 2 use dental floss to clean wordnet
- 3 To show off, especially by exhibiting one's wealth or talent. slang
"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."
- 4 To perform the floss dance move. intransitive
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.).
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.).
From dialectal flosh (“a flush, stream of water, sluice”), from Middle English flosche, flusche, flasche, flaske (“a watery or marshy place, swamp”), perhaps from Old French flache, from Middle Dutch vlacke (“a flat area, plain”), ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *fleutan. Compare also German Floss (“a float”).
Origin obscure. Perhaps of North Germanic origin. Compare Norwegian flos, flus (“rind, scale, strip peeled off”).
See also for "floss"
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