Forms: 4–6 flek(e, 5–6 fleyke, 6 fleake, Sc. flaik, 7–8 fleak, (7 fleack), 5– flake. dial. 9 fleigh, fleak, flaik. [? a. ON. flake, fleke wk. masc., hurdle, wicker shield (Da. flage hurdle), corresponding to MDu. vlāke fem. (mod.Du. vlaak hurdle on which wool is beaten), MLG. and mod.LG. flake sort of fishing net. The senses of the word seem to point to some root meaning to plait; a connection with OTeut. *flehtan (= L. plectĕre, f. root *plek-; cf. Gr. πλέκειν) to plait, is suggested by the Ger. synonym flechte (cf. Ger. käseflechte = cheese-flake in 2 below), but involves phonological difficulties. The L. plăga net, is prob. cognate.]
1. A wattled hurdle. Now dial.; in some places applied in wider sense to a hurdle of any kind.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 321.
| A brigge he suld do wrihte, | |
| Botes & barges ilkon, with flekes mak þam tighte. |
1415. Churchw. Acc. Somerset (1890), 68. For fityng off flakes and hurdylls … vj d.
c. 1470. Hardyng, Chron., CLXXVII. 1.
| When they were ouer ye quake of mosse & mire, | |
| They drewe the flekes ay after as they went. |
1511. Nottingham Rec., III. 330. ij. fleykes to be set bytwen ye masons and the wynde.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. ii. 14.
| Sum of Eneas feris bessely | |
| Flakis to plet thame pressis by and by. |
1743. Lond. & Country Brew., IV. (ed. 2), 322. If the Wind blows there are set Fleaks to shelter the Heap, and then, in a Hole made at the Top, they throw in a Fire-shovel or two of Fire, which spreads and fires all.
1863. Greaves, in N. & Q., Ser. 3, III. 96. This [oblong mound] is surrounded by iron fleaks or hurdles.
b. The same used as a temporary gate.
c. 1514. Exam. C. More, in Chetham Misc., II. 16. Never ȝate … but a letull fleke that was for the most parte teyed fast.
1669. J. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 325. A Fleack, a Gate set up in a Gap.
1847. Halliwell, Flake … a temporary gate or door.
2. A frame or rack for storing provisions, in mod. use esp. oat-cakes. Cf. bread-flake.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., XII. 248.
| Plommes summen drie, | |
| And hem on fleykes kepe. |
1519. Horman, Vulg., 156 b. Ley this meate in trayes and flekis.
1578. Richmond Wills (Surtees), 281–2. iiij. chesis and a flake, iiij s…. A chese flake, iiij d.
1641. H. Best, Rural Economy in Yorkshire in 1641 (Surtees), 171. One peare of fleakes.
1800. Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts, XVIII. 335. Netted frames, resembling the flakes used in Yorkshire for drying oat-cakes.
1865. B. Brierley, Irkdale, I. 91. Pointing to a ‘flake’ or ‘fleigh’ well thatched with crisp-looking and nicely-browned oat-cakes, which curled over the strings that held them like a bishop’s hat brim inverted.
b. A stage or frame used for drying produce, esp. fish; a fish-flake. Upland flake: a flake for drying codfish, built permanently upon the shore.
1623. Whitbourne, Newfoundland, 57. Flakes whereon men yeerely dry their fish.
1649. Blithe, Eng. Improv. Impr., xxxv. (1652), 226. When it [Woad] is ground it is to be made in balls round, about the bigness of a ball without any composition at all, and then presently laid one by one upon the fleakes to dry.
1792. J. Belknap, Hist. New-Hampshire, III. 214–5. The fish is rinsed in salt water, spread on hurdles, composed of brush, and raised on stakes, about three or four feet from the ground; these are called flakes.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., II. xxxvi. 393. In 1714, fugitives from Newfoundland and Acadia built huts along its coasts wherever safe inlets invited fishermen to spread their flakes, and the soil to plant fields and gardens.
3. Naut. (See quot.)
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Flake, a small shifting stage, hung over a ship’s side to caulk or repair a breach.
† 4. A flap on a saddle to keep the rider’s knee from touching the horse. [Perh. a distinct word. Cf. FLET sb.2] Obs.
1568. Turberv., in Hakl., Voy., I. 388.
| No bits but snaffles all, of birch their saddles be, | |
| Much fashioned like the Scottish seates, broad flakes to keepe the knee | |
| From sweating of the horse. |
5. Mining. A framework of boards, used as a shelter against rain and wind.
1653. Manlove, Lead-mines, 8. Fleaks, Knockings, Coestid.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., I j b. Fleaks [are] those very useful things that the Miner uses to make for Shilter, when he has as yet no Côe to hold off the Wind and Rain from his Shaft.
1824. in Mander, Derbysh. Miners’ Gloss, 29. Fleaks, Such as are used by Farmers, but thatched with straw, to keep off the wet and wind, while the Miners break and wash the Ore upon the hillock.
6. attrib. and Comb., as flake-hurdle; also flake-room, flake-yard, ‘an inclosure in which flakes for drying salt are built, and in which fish are dried’ (Cent. Dict.).
1890. Gloucestersh. Gloss., *Flake or Vlake hurdle, a wattled hurdle.
1894. Morris, Wood beyond World, xvii. 132. They came upon a tall fence of flake-hurdles, and a simple gate therein.
