Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

flat 1       (flāt)  Pronunciation Key  adj.   flat·ter, flat·test Having a horizontal surface without a slope, tilt, or curvature. Having a smooth, even, level surface: a skirt sewed with fine flat seams. Having a relatively broad surface in relation to thickness or depth: a flat board. See Synonyms at level. Stretched out or lying at full length along the ground; prone. Free of qualification; absolute: a flat refusal. Fixed; unvarying: a flat rate. Lacking interest or excitement; dull: a flat scenario. Lacking in flavor: a flat stew that needs salt. Having lost effervescence or sparkle: flat beer. Deflated. Used of a tire. Electrically discharged. Used of a storage battery. Being below the correct pitch. Being one half step lower than the corresponding natural key: the key of B flat. Deflated. Used of a tire. Electrically discharged. Used of a storage battery. Being below the correct pitch. Being one half step lower than the corresponding natural key: the key of B flat. Of or relating to a horizontal line that displays no ups or downs and signifies the absence of physiological activity: A flat electroencephalogram indicates a loss of brain function. Commercially inactive; sluggish: flat sales for the month. Unmodulated; monotonous: a flat voice. Lacking variety in tint or shading; uniform: "The sky was bright but flat, the color of oyster shells" (Anne Tyler). Not glossy; mat: flat paint. Music Being below the correct pitch. Being one half step lower than the corresponding natural key: the key of B flat. Designating the vowel a as pronounced in bad or cat. Nautical Taut. Used of a sail. adv.   Level with the ground; horizontally. On or up against a flat surface; at full length. Directly; completely: went flat against the rules; flat broke. Exactly; precisely: arrived in six minutes flat. So as to be flat. Directly; completely: went flat against the rules; flat broke. Exactly; precisely: arrived in six minutes flat. Music Below the intended pitch. Business Without interest charge. n.   A flat surface or part. A stretch of level ground. Often used in the plural: salt flats. A shallow frame or box for seeds or seedlings. A movable section of stage scenery, usually consisting of a wooden frame and a decorated panel of wood or cloth. A flatcar. A deflated tire. A shoe with a flat heel. A large flat piece of mail. A horse that competes in a flat race. Also called runner. Music A sign (♭) used to indicate that a note is to be lowered by a half step. A note that is lowered a half step. Football The area of the field to either side of an offensive formation. v.   flat·ted, flat·ting, flats v.   tr. To make flat; flatten. Music To lower (a note) a semitone. v.   intr. Music To sing or play below the proper pitch. [Middle English, from Old Norse flatr; see plat- in Indo-European roots.] flat'ly adv., flat'ness n.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

flat 2       (flāt)  Pronunciation Key  n.   An apartment on one floor of a building. Archaic A story in a house. [Alteration of Scots flet, inner part of a house, from Middle English, from Old English, floor, dwelling; see plat- in Indo-European roots.]

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
flat  (adj.)

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
flat  (n.)

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

flat
adjective
1.	having a surface without slope, tilt in which no part is higher or lower than another; "a flat desk"; "acres of level farmland"; "a plane surface"; "skirts sewn with fine flat seams"
2.	having a relatively broad surface in relation to depth or thickness; "flat computer monitors"
3.	not modified or restricted by reservations; "a categorical denial"; "a flat refusal" [syn: categoric]
4.	stretched out and lying at full length along the ground; "found himself lying flat on the floor"
5.	lacking contrast or shading between tones [ant: contrasty]
6.	(of a musical note) lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone; "B flat" [ant: natural, sharp]
7.	flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain leafstalks or flatfishes) [syn: compressed]
8.	lacking taste or flavor or tang; "a bland diet"; "insipid hospital food"; "flavorless supermarket tomatoes"; "vapid beer"; "vapid tea" [syn: bland]
9.	lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting; "a bland little drama"; "a flat joke" [syn: bland]
10.	having lost effervescence; "flat beer"; "a flat cola"
11.	sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch; "the owl's faint monotonous hooting"
12.	horizontally level; "a flat roof"
13.	lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an illusion or depth; "a film with two-dimensional characters"; "a flat two-dimensional painting" [syn: two-dimensional]
14.	not reflecting light; not glossy; "flat wall paint"; "a photograph with a matte finish"
15.	commercially inactive; "flat sales for the month"; "prices remained flat"; "a flat market"
adverb
1.	with flat sails; "sail flat against the wind"
2.	in a forthright manner; candidly or frankly; "he didn't answer directly"; "told me straight out"; "came out flat for less work and more pay" [syn: directly] [ant: indirectly]
noun
1.	a level tract of land; "the salt flats of Utah"
2.	a shallow box in which seedlings are started
3.	a musical notation indicating one half step lower than the note named
4.	freight car without permanent sides or roof [syn: flatcar]
5.	a deflated pneumatic tire
6.	scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted canvas; part of a stage setting
7.	a suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house [syn: apartment]

American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

flat

In addition to the idioms beginning with flat, also see caught flat-footed; fall flat; in no time (nothing flat); leave flat.

Investopedia - Cite This Source - Share This

Flat

1. A price that is neither rising nor declining.

2. In forex, the condition of being neither long nor short in a particular currency. Also referred to as 'being square'.

3. A bond that is trading without accrued interest.

Investopedia Commentary

1. If a stock over the last month has been trading around $30, it can be thought of as trading flat.

2. If you had no positions in the U.S. dollar or your long and short positions canceled each other out, you would be flat or have a flat book.

3. A bond is trading flat if the buyer of the bond is not responsible for paying the interest that has accrued since the last payment (accrued interest is usually part of the bond purchase price). Bonds that are in default trade flat.

Related Links

Triangles: A Short Study in Continuation Patterns
Getting Started In Forex
Advanced Bond Concepts

See also: Accrued Interest, Bond, Forex, Long, Short

Wallstreet Words - Cite This Source - Share This

flat

1. Of, relating to, or being a market maker's inventory position that is neither long nor short; that is, the inventory is zero.
2. Of, relating to, or being a bond that trades without accrued interest. For example, bonds of a company in bankruptcy proceedings trade flat. A bond trading flat is indicated in bond transaction tables by the symbol f.

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: flat
Function: adjective
: not varying flat rate>; specifically of a tax : having a rate that remains constant for any taxable base

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: flat
Function: adverb
: without interest charge; especially : without allowance or charge for accrued interest flat>

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

flat
1. Lacking any complex internal structure. "That bitty box has only a flat file system, not a hierarchical one." The verb form is flatten. Usually used pejoratively (at least with respect to file systems).
2. Said of a memory architecture like that of the VAX or Motorola 680x0 that is one big linear address space (typically with each possible value of a processor register corresponding to a unique address). This is a Good Thing. The opposite is a "segmented" architecture like that of the Intel 80x86 in which addresses are composed from a base-register/offset pair. Segmented designs are generally considered cretinous.
3. A flat domain is one where all elements except bottom are incomparable (equally well defined). E.g. the integers.
[The Jargon File]

Jargon File - Cite This Source - Share This

flat

adj.
1. [common] Lacking any complex internal structure. "That bitty box has only a flat filesystem, not a hierarchical one." The verb form is flatten.
2. Said of a memory architecture (like that of the VAX or 680x0) that is one big linear address space (typically with each possible value of a processor register corresponding to a unique core address), as opposed to a `segmented' architecture (like that of the 80x86) in which addresses are composed from a base-register/offset pair (segmented designs are generally considered cretinous).

Note that sense 1 (at least with respect to filesystems) is usually used pejoratively, while sense 2 is a Good Thing.

U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Flat Rock, NC (CDP, FIPS 23640) Location: 36.50696 N, 80.58321 W
Population (1990): 1812 (795 housing units)
Area: 7.2 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 28731

Flat Top, WV Zip code(s): 25841

Flat Rock, MI (city, FIPS 28360) Location: 42.10180 N, 83.27293 W
Population (1990): 7290 (2829 housing units)
Area: 17.4 sq km (land), 0.3 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 48134

Flat Rock, IN Zip code(s): 47234

Flat Rock, IL (village, FIPS 26350) Location: 38.90440 N, 87.67250 W
Population (1990): 421 (180 housing units)
Area: 2.1 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 62427

Flat Rock, AL Zip code(s): 35966

Flat River, MO (city, FIPS 24490) Location: 37.85350 N, 90.51666 W
Population (1990): 4823 (2086 housing units)
Area: 9.2 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

East Flat Rock, NC (CDP, FIPS 19420) Location: 35.28447 N, 82.41917 W
Population (1990): 3218 (1572 housing units)
Area: 8.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 28726

Flat, KY Zip code(s): 41301

Flat, TX Zip code(s): 76526

Myers Flat, CA Zip code(s): 95554

Salt Flat, TX Zip code(s): 79847

Hickory Flat, MS (town, FIPS 32020) Location: 34.61515 N, 89.18695 W
Population (1990): 535 (238 housing units)
Area: 1.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 38633

Spanish Flat, CA Zip code(s): 94558

Wilmot Flat, NH Zip code(s): 03287

Dutch Flat, CA Zip code(s): 95714

Big Flat, AR (town, FIPS 5980) Location: 36.00577 N, 92.40500 W
Population (1990): 93 (61 housing units)
Area: 2.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 72617

Burns Flat, OK (town, FIPS 10250) Location: 35.35508 N, 99.17511 W
Population (1990): 1027 (989 housing units)
Area: 2.2 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

Ash Flat, AR (city, FIPS 2470) Location: 36.22577 N, 91.60652 W
Population (1990): 667 (275 housing units)
Area: 7.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

Groveland-Big Oak Flat, CA (CDP, FIPS 31375) Location: 37.84554 N, 120.19642 W
Population (1990): 2753 (2420 housing units)
Area: 56.6 sq km (land), 0.7 sq km (water)

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Flat

Flat\, a. [Compar. Flatter; superl. Flattest.] [Akin to Icel. flatr, Sw. flat, Dan. flad, OHG. flaz, and AS. flet floor, G. fl["o]tz stratum, layer.]

1. Having an even and horizontal surface, or nearly so, without prominences or depressions; level without inclination; plane.

Though sun and moon Were in the flat sea sunk. --Milton.

2. Lying at full length, or spread out, upon the ground; level with the ground or earth; prostrate; as, to lie flat on the ground; hence, fallen; laid low; ruined; destroyed.

What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat! --Milton.

I feel . . . my hopes all flat. --Milton.

3. (Fine Arts) Wanting relief; destitute of variety; without points of prominence and striking interest.

A large part of the work is, to me, very flat. --Coleridge.

4. Tasteless; stale; vapid; insipid; dead; as, fruit or drink flat to the taste.

5. Unanimated; dull; uninteresting; without point or spirit; monotonous; as, a flat speech or composition.

How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world. --Shak.

6. Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull; as, the market is flat.

7. Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright.

Flat burglary as ever was committed. --Shak.

A great tobacco taker too, -- that's flat. --Marston.

8. (Mus.) (a) Below the true pitch; hence, as applied to intervals, minor, or lower by a half step; as, a flat seventh; A flat. (b) Not sharp or shrill; not acute; as, a flat sound.

9. (Phonetics) Sonant; vocal; -- applied to any one of the sonant or vocal consonants, as distinguished from a nonsonant (or sharp) consonant.

Flat arch. (Arch.) See under Arch, n., 2. (b).

Flat cap, cap paper, not folded. See under Paper.

Flat chasing, in fine art metal working, a mode of ornamenting silverware, etc., producing figures by dots and lines made with a punching tool. --Knight.

Flat chisel, a sculptor's chisel for smoothing.

Flat file, a file wider than its thickness, and of rectangular section. See File.

Flat nail, a small, sharp-pointed, wrought nail, with a flat, thin head, larger than a tack. --Knight.

Flat paper, paper which has not been folded.

Flat rail, a railroad rail consisting of a simple flat bar spiked to a longitudinal sleeper.

Flat rods (Mining), horizontal or inclined connecting rods, for transmitting motion to pump rods at a distance. --Raymond.

Flat rope, a rope made by plaiting instead of twisting; gasket; sennit.

Note: Some flat hoisting ropes, as for mining shafts, are made by sewing together a number of ropes, making a wide, flat band. --Knight.

Flat space. (Geom.) See Euclidian space.

Flat stitch, the process of wood engraving. [Obs.] -- Flat tint (Painting), a coat of water color of one uniform shade.

To fall flat (Fig.), to produce no effect; to fail in the intended effect; as, his speech fell flat.

Of all who fell by saber or by shot, Not one fell half so flat as Walter Scott. --Lord Erskine.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Flat

Flat\, adv. 1. In a flat manner; directly; flatly.

Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty. --Herbert.

2. (Stock Exchange) Without allowance for accrued interest. [Broker's Cant]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Flat

Flat\, n. 1. A level surface, without elevation, relief, or prominences; an extended plain; specifically, in the United States, a level tract along the along the banks of a river; as, the Mohawk Flats.

Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat. --Bacon.

2. A level tract lying at little depth below the surface of water, or alternately covered and left bare by the tide; a shoal; a shallow; a strand.

Half my power, this night Passing these flats, are taken by the tide. --Shak.

3. Something broad and flat in form; as: (a) A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught. (b) A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned. (c) (Railroad Mach.) A car without a roof, the body of which is a platform without sides; a platform car. (d) A platform on wheel, upon which emblematic designs, etc., are carried in processions.

4. The flat part, or side, of anything; as, the broad side of a blade, as distinguished from its edge.

5. (Arch.) A floor, loft, or story in a building; especially, a floor of a house, which forms a complete residence in itself.

6. (Mining) A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal. --Raymond.

7. A dull fellow; a simpleton; a numskull. [Colloq.]

Or if you can not make a speech, Because you are a flat. --Holmes.

8. (Mus.) A character [[flat]] before a note, indicating a tone which is a half step or semitone lower.

9. (Geom.) A homaloid space or extension.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Flat

Flat\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Flatted; p. pr. & vb. n. Flatting.]

1. To make flat; to flatten; to level.

2. To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.

Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted. --Barrow.

3. To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Flat

Flat\, v. i. 1. To become flat, or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface. --Sir W. Temple.

2. (Mus.) To fall form the pitch.

To flat out, to fail from a promising beginning; to make a bad ending; to disappoint expectations. [Colloq.]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Flat

Flat\, a. 1. (Golf) Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft; -- said of a club.

2. (Gram.) Not having an inflectional ending or sign, as a noun used as an adjective, or an adjective as an adverb, without the addition of a formative suffix, or an infinitive without the sign to. Many flat adverbs, as in run fast, buy cheap, are from AS. adverbs in -["e], the loss of this ending having made them like the adjectives. Some having forms in ly, such as exceeding, wonderful, true, are now archaic.

3. (Hort.) Flattening at the ends; -- said of certain fruits.