Category:Flaw

Flaw, n. Etym: [OE. flai, flaw flake; cf. Sw. flaga flaw, crack, breach, flake, D. vlaag gust of wind, Norw. flage, flaag, and E. flag a flat stone.]

1. A crack or breach; a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion; as, a flaw in a knife or a vase. This heart Shall break into a hundered thousand flaws. Shak.

2. A defect; a fault; as, a flaw in reputation; a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute. Has not this also its flaws and its dark side South.

3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder; a tumult; uproar; a quarrel. [Obs.] And deluges of armies from the town Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw. Dryden.

4. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration. Snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw. Milton. Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn. Tennyson.

Syn. -- Blemish; fault; imoerfection; spot; speck.

flaw Flaw, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Flawed; p. pr. & vb. n. Flawing.]

1. To crack; to make flaws in. The brazen caldrons with the frosts are flawed. Dryden.

2. To break; to violate; to make of no effect. [Obs.] France hath flawed the league. Shak.