flatとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源 1

From Middle English flat, a borrowing from Old Norse flatr^[1] (compare Norwegian かつ Swedish flat, Danish flad), from Proto-Germanic *flataz, from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”); akin to Saterland Frisian flot (“smooth”), German Flöz (“a geological layer”), Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), Latvian plats, Sanskrit प्रथस् (prathas, “extension”)^[2]. Doublet of plat and pleyt.

The noun is from Middle English flat (“level piece of ground, flat edge of a weapon”), from the adjective.

別の表記

• flatt, flatte (both 廃れた用法)

形容詞

flat (comparative flatter, superlative flattest)

1. Having no variations in height.

   The land around here is flat.

   1. In a horizontal line or plane; not sloping.

      a flat roof

   2. Smooth; having no protrusions, indentations or other surface irregularities, or relatively so.

      The surface of the mirror must be completely flat.

      The carpet isn't properly flat in that corner.

      She has quite a flat face.

      • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

        The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].

   3. (slang) Having small or invisible breasts and/or buttocks.

      That girl is completely flat on both sides.

2. Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc.

   The exchange rate has been flat for several weeks.

   1. At a consistently depressed level; consistently lacklustre.

      Sales have been flat all year, and we've barely broken even.

   2. (not comparable, commerce) Of fees, fares etc., fixed; unvarying.

      a flat fee

      flat rates

      a flat fare on public transport

   3. (music, voice) Without variations in pitch.

      He delivered the speech in a flat tone.

   4. (of colours) Without variation in tone or hue; uniform.

      The walls were painted a flat gray.

3. (figuratively) Lacking liveliness or action; depressed; uninteresting; dull and boring.

   The party was a bit flat.

   The market is flat today as most traders are on holiday.

   The dialogue in your screenplay is flat — you need to make it more exciting.

   • February 16, 1833, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk

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

   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:

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

   1. (authorship, figuratively, especially of a character) Lacking in depth, substance, or believability; underdeveloped; one-dimensional.

      Antonym: round

      The author added a chapter to flesh out the book's flatter characters.

4. (music, note) Lowered by one semitone.
5. (music) Of a note or voice, lower in pitch than it should be.

   Your A string is flat.

6. Absolute; downright; peremptory.

   His claim was in flat contradiction to experimental results.

   I'm not going to the party and that's flat.

   • c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act IV, Scene 2,^[2]

     SECOND WATCH. Marry, that he had received a thousand ducats of Don John for accusing the Lady Hero wrongfully.

     DOGBERRY. Flat burglary as ever was committed

   • 1602, John Marston, Antonio and Mellida, Malone Society Reprint, 1921, Act I, lines 324-326,^[3]

     He is made like a tilting staffe; and lookes

     For all the world like an ore-rosted pigge:

     A great Tobacco taker too, thats flat.

7. (of a tire または other inflated object) Deflated, especially because of a puncture.
8. (of a carbonated drink) With all or most of its carbon dioxide having come out of solution so that the drink no longer fizzes or contains any bubbles.
9. (wine) Lacking acidity without being sweet.
10. (of a battery) Unable to emit power; dead.
11. (juggling, of a throw) Without spin; spinless.
12. (phonetics, dated, of a consonant) sonant; vocal, as distinguished from a sharp (non-sonant) consonant
13. (grammar) Not having an inflectional ending or sign, such 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', etc. are from Old English.

14. (golf, of a golf club) Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft.
15. (horticulture, of certain fruits) Flattening at the ends.
16. (of measurements of time) Exact.

    He finished the race in a flat four minutes.

同意語

• (having no variations in altitude): even, planar, plane, smooth, uniform
• (without variations in pitch): monotone
• (uninteresting): boring, dull, uninteresting; see also Thesaurus:boring
• (deflated): deflated, punctured
• (of a carbonated drink: no longer fizzes): still, unfizzy; see also Thesaurus:noneffervescent
• (of wine: lacking acidity): flabby

反意語

• (having no variations in altitude): bumpy, cratered, hilly (of terrain), rough (of a surface), wrinkled (of a surface)
• (music: lowered by one semitone): sharp
• (music: lower in pitch than it should be): sharp

派生語

関連する語

副詞

flat (comparative more flat, superlative most flat)

1. So as to be flat.

   Spread the tablecloth flat over the table.

2. Bluntly.

   I asked him if he wanted to marry me and he turned me down flat.

3. (of accurately measured timings) Exactly, precisely.
   • 1996, Jon Byrell, Lairs, Urgers and Coat-Tuggers, Sydney: Ironbark, page 186:

     Dan Patch clocked a scorching 1:55.5 flat.

   In the mile race, Smith's time was 3:58.56, and Brown's was four minutes flat.

4. (with units of time, distance, etc) Used to emphasize the smallness of the measurement.

   He can run a mile in four minutes flat.

5. Completely.

   I am flat broke this month.

6. Directly; flatly.
   • [1633], George Herbert, [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple: Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], OCLC 1048966979; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, […], 1885, OCLC 54151361:

     Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty.

7. (finance, slang) Without allowance for accrued interest.

   The bonds are trading flat.

同意語

• (so as to be flat):
• (bluntly): bluntly, curtly
• (not exceeding): tops
• (completely): absolutely, completely, utterly

名詞

A flat tire

flat (複数形 flats)

1. An area of level ground.

   The hovercraft skimmed across the open flats.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Envy

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

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 3, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.

   1. (in the phrase 'the flat') Level ground in general.

      I can run on the flat but not up hills.

      The going will be easier once we're through these mountains and onto the flat.

   2. (horse racing, with 'the' または attributively, sometimes with capital) Level horse-racing ground, as contrasted with courses incorporating jumps, or the racing done on such ground.

      This horse will do better over the flat.

      flat racing, the flat season

      • 2020, Brian Sheerin, Racing Post, "Gordon Elliott maps out summer Flat campaigns for talented jumpers" (article) [4]

        In light of Horse Racing Ireland's Covid-19 contingency plan announcement, that whenever racing resumes the Flat will be given priority, Elliott has decided to keep a number of talented jumpers on the go during the summer, with a view towards a dual-purpose campaign.

      • 2021 (retrieved), racing365.com, "Flat Racing Explained" [5]

        In British horse racing, the classics are a series of horse races run over the flat (i.e. without jumps).

3. (music) A note played a semitone lower than a natural, denoted by the symbol ♭ placed after the letter representing the note (e.g., B♭) or in front of the note symbol (e.g. ♭♪).

   The key of E♭ has three flats.

4. (informal, automotive) A flat tyre/tire.
   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent.

5. (in the plural) A type of ladies' shoe with a very low heel.

   She liked to walk in her flats more than in her high heels.

6. (in the plural) A type of flat-soled running shoe without spikes.
7. (painting) A thin, broad brush used in oil and watercolour painting.
8. The flat part of something:
   1. (swordfighting) The flat side of a blade, as opposed to the sharp edge.
   2. The palm of the hand, with the adjacent part of the fingers.
9. A wide, shallow container or pallet.

   a flat of strawberries

10. (mail) A large mail piece measuring at least 8 1/2 by 11 inches, such as catalogs, magazines, and unfolded paper enclosed in large envelopes.
11. (rail transport, US) A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car or flatcar.
12. A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught.
13. (geometry) A subset of n-dimensional space that is congruent to a Euclidean space of lower dimension.
14. A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned.
15. A flat sheet for use on a bed.
    • 1986, New York Magazine (volume 19, number 49, page 20)

      You might think that Americans buy roughly the same number of fitted sheets as flats. Or, considering the market for electric blankets, duvets, and other covers, that consumers buy even more bottom sheets, simply forgoing the tops.

16. (publishing) A flat, glossy children's book with few pages.
    • 1970, The Publishers Weekly (volume 197, page 85)

      This same publisher notes pricing is a crucial factor in the mass market field of $1, $1.95 and $2.95 "flats."

17. A platform on a wheel, upon which emblematic designs etc. are carried in processions.
18. (mining) A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal^[3].
19. (technical, theatre) A rectangular wooden structure covered with masonite, lauan, or muslin that depicts a building or other part of a scene, also called backcloth and backdrop.
20. (entomology) Any of various hesperiid butterflies that spread their wings open when they land.
21. (historical) An early kind of toy soldier having a flat design.
    • 2019, Luigi Toiati, The History of Toy Soldiers (page 78)

      Among the many US museums hosting flats, we may mention the Toy Soldier Museum in the Pocono Mountains, supervised by the historian, collector and dealer J. Hillestad.

22. (obsolete) A dull fellow; a simpleton.
    • 1836, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., "The Music-Grinders":

      ... if you cannot make a speech,

      Because you are a flat,

      Go very quietly and drop

      A button in the hat!

    • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 14:

      "He fancies he can play at billiards," said he. "I won two hundred of him at the Cocoa-Tree. HE play, the young flat! ..."

23. Short for flat ride (“spinning amusement ride”).

反意語

• (note): sharp
• (shoes): high heels

派生語

動詞

flat (三人称単数 現在形 flats, 現在分詞 flatting, 過去形および過去分詞形 flatted)

1. (poker slang) To make a flat call; to call without raising.
2. (intransitive) To become flat or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface.
3. (intransitive, music, colloquial) To fall from the pitch.
4. (transitive, music) To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.
5. (transitive, dated) To make flat; to flatten; to level.
   • 1764, James Granger, M.D., The Sugar-Cane: a Poem. In Four Books. With Notes. Book 1, page 44, note to verse 605.

     The pods, which seldom contain less than thirty nuts of the size of a flatted olive, grow upon the stem and principal branches.

6. (transitive, dated) To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Danger and Mischief of Delaying Repentance (sermon)

     Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted.

語源 2

A block of flats (apartments) in Wrocław

From 1795, alteration of Scots flet (“inner part of a house”), from Middle English flet (“dwelling”), from 古期英語 flet, flett (“ground floor, dwelling”), from Proto-Germanic *flatją (“floor”), from Proto-Germanic *flataz (“flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”). Akin to Old Frisian flet, flette (“dwelling, house”). More at flet, flat1.

名詞

flat (複数形 flats)

2. (chiefly Britain, New England, New Zealand and Australia, archaic elsewhere) An apartment, usually on one level and usually consisting of more than one room.
   • 1905, Sydney Perks, Residential flats of all classes, including artisans' dwellings: a practical treatise on their planning and arrangement, together with chapters on their history, financial matters, etc.,with numerous illustrations, page 204,

     The excellence of French flats is so well known in America, that the owner will often refer to his property as "first class French flats."

   • 1983, Tai Ching Ling, Relocation and Population Planning: A Study of the Implications of Public Housing and Family Planning in Singapore, Wilfredo F. Arce, Gabriel C. Alvarez (editors), Population Change in Southeast Asia, page 184,

     Fifteen percent of this group said that they were not satisfied with the public housing estates and their HDB^{[Singapore Housing & Development Board]} flats (see Tables 11 かつ 12 respectively).

   • 2002, MIchael Ottley, Briefcase on Company Law, page 76,

     The Greater London Council formed the Estmanco company to manage a block of 60 council-owned flats. The council entered into an agreement with the company to sell off the flats to owner-occupiers.

   • 2014, Terry Gourvish, Dolphin Square: The History of a Unique Building, page 75,

     When the Dolphin Square's flats were first offered to the public in 1936, the South Block was still under construction, and the North Block was a building site.

同意語

• (apartment): apartment

派生語

• block of flats
• coldwater flat
• flatlet
• flatmate
• flatter

語源 3

From Middle English flatten, from Old French flatir (“to knock または strike down, dash”), from Frankish *flattjan (“to move the palm of the hand”), from Proto-Germanic *flatjaną (“to make flat, flatten”).

動詞

flat (三人称単数 現在形 flats, 現在分詞 flatting, 過去形および過去分詞形 flatted)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To beat or strike; pound
2. (transitive) To dash or throw
3. (intransitive) To dash, rush

派生語

• flatter (“hammer”)

参照

アナグラム

• falt