flaw
noun
- procedure not followed well or defect in a commercial product
verb
- (cause to) be defective
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈflɔː/ / /flɔː/ / /floː/ / /flɔ/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English *flaugh, from Middle Dutch vlāghe or Middle Low German vlāge, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *flagā. Or, possibly of North Germanic origin, from Swedish flaga (“gust of wind”), from Old Norse flaga; all from Proto-Germanic *flagǭ (“blow, strike”). See modern Dutch vlaag (“gust of wind”).
- A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration; windflaw.
“And snow and haile and stormie gust and flaw”
“Yniol with that hard message went; it fell, / Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn: […]”
- A storm of short duration.
- A sudden burst of noise and disorder
“And deluges of armies from the town / Come pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English flawe, flay (“a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter”), probably from Old Norse flaga (“a flag or slab of stone, flake”), from Proto-Germanic *flagō (“a layer of soil”), from Proto-Indo-European *plok- (“broad, flat”). Cognate with Icelandic flaga (“flake”), Swedish flaga (“flake, scale”), Danish flage (“flake”), Middle Low German vlage (“a layer of soil”), Old English flōh (“a fragment, piece”).
- To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
- To become imperfect or defective; to crack or break.