a projecting rim, collar, or ring on a shaft, pipe, machine housing, etc., cast or formed to give additional strength, stiffness, or supporting area, or to provide a place for the attachment of other objects.
2.
a broad ridge or pair of ridges projecting from the edge of a rolled metal shape generally at right angles, in order to strengthen or stiffen it.
3.
a ring or collar, usually provided with holes for bolts, and screwed or welded over the end of a tube or pipe to permit other objects to be attached to it.
4.
(in plumbing) a plate or flat ring bolted to the flange at the end of a length of pipe to close the end or to connect it with the flange of another such length: blind flange; spectacle flange.
–verb (used without object)
5.
to project like, or take the form of, a flange.
[Origin: 1425–75; late ME flaunche side charge (on shield face) < MF flanche, fem. of flancflank]
flangeAudio Help (flānj) Pronunciation Key
n.
A protruding rim, edge, rib, or collar, as on a wheel or a pipe shaft, used to strengthen an object, hold it in place, or attach it to another object.
[Possibly variant of flanch, device at the side of an escutcheon, perhaps from French flanche, feminine of flanc, side; see flank.]
Flange\ (fl[a^]nj), n. [Prov. E. flange to project, flanch a projection. See Flanch, Flank.]1. An external or internal rib, or rim, for strength, as the flange of an iron beam; or for a guide, as the flange of a car wheel (see Car wheel.); or for attachment to another object, as the flange on the end of a pipe, steam cylinder, etc. --Knight. 2. A plate or ring to form a rim at the end of a pipe when fastened to the pipe. Blind flange, a plate for covering or closing the end of a pipe. Flange joint, a joint, as that of pipes, where the connecting pieces have flanges by which the parts are bolted together. --Knight. Flange rail, a rail with a flange on one side, to keep wheels, etc. from running off. Flange turning, the process of forming a flange on a wrought iron plate by bending and hammering it when hot.
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Audio Help [flanj] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, flanged, flang·ing. 
