to try to please by complimentary remarks or attention.
2.
to praise or compliment insincerely, effusively, or excessively: She flatters him by constantly praising his books.
3.
to represent favorably; gratify by falsification: The portrait flatters her.
4.
to show to advantage: a hairstyle that flatters the face.
5.
to play upon the vanity or susceptibilities of; cajole, wheedle, or beguile: They flattered him into contributing heavily to the foundation.
6.
to please or gratify by compliments or attentions: I was flattered by their invitation.
7.
to feel satisfaction with (oneself), especially with reference to an accomplishment, act, or occasion: He flattered himself that the dinner had gone well.
8.
to beguile with hope; encourage prematurely, falsely, etc.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
Origin: 1175–1225;Middle Englishflat(t)eren to float, flutter, fawn upon, Old Englishfloterian to float, flutter; for sense development, cf. flicker1, Old Norseflathra; reinforced by Old Frenchflatter to flatter, literally, to stroke, caress (probably < Frankish*flat-flat1)
early 13c., from O.Fr. flater "to flatter," originally "stroke with the hand, caress," from Frank. *flat "palm, flat of the hand" (see flat (adj.)). Related: Flattered; flattering.