a. Also 6 flakie, 8 fleaky, 8–9 flakey. [f. FLAKE sb.2 + -Y1.]
1. Consisting of flakes, or of what resembles flakes: said esp. of snow.
1580. Sidney, Ps. cxxxv. iii.
| From whose extreames drawne up by his command | |
| In flaky mists, the reaking vapors rise: | |
| Then high in cloudes incorporate they stand. |
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., V. iii. 86.
| The silent houres steale on, | |
| And flakie darkenesse breakes within the East. |
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 110. On other parts it was pretty thick, and retained a white coat, or flaky substance on the top, just like the outsides of such Shells.
1714. Gay, Trivia, II. 199.
| She bids the Snow descend in flaky Sheets, | |
| And in her hoary Mantle cloath the Streets. |
1802. Med. Jrnl. VIII. 1 Nov., 435. Sometimes, especially in those cases where a flakey sort of milk was evacuated by the stools, the intestines were found to be filled with similar matter.
1819. Crabbe, T. of Hall, x. Wks. 1834. V. 23.
| Fresh herbs the fields, fair shrubs the banks adorn, | |
| And snow-white bloom falls flaky from the thorn. |
1823. E. Smith, Let., in Bray, Tamar & Tavy (1838), I. 209. There was above, beneath, and all around me, a mass, flaky, and at times even rushing, of white fog—there is no colour by which it could be named—a sombre whiteness—a darkness palpable and yet impalpable—that scriptural expression best suits it, ‘the very light was darkness.’
1839. Marryat, Phantom Ship, I. xi. 240. The sky was covered with flaky clouds fringed here and there with broad white edges, for the light of the moon was high in the heavens, and she was at her full.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxi. 270. A snow, moist and flaky, melting upon our decks, and cleaning up the dingy surface of the great ice-plain with a new garment.
b. Of a flame: cf. FLAKE sb.2 2.
1776. W. Combe, Diaboliad (1777), 7.
| With flaky flames the distant region glow’d, | |
| Whose angry light, in all their horrors shew’d | |
| Those fields of fire where guilty Spirits dwell, | |
| And in loud, ceaseless shrieks their anguish tell. |
2. Separating easily into flakes: flake-like. Flaky-spar, a local name for CALCITE.
1672. Boyle, Ess. Gems, 22. Diamonds themselves have a grain, or a flaky Contexture not unlike the fissility, as the Schools call it, in Wood.
c. 1720. W. Gibson, Farrier’s Dispens., II. II. (1734), 93. The genuine true Salt is transparent and fleaky, of a somewhat yellowish Colour, smells not so quick as the other, but strongly of the Harts-horn.
1748. trans. Vegetius’ Distempers Horses, 107. Take three Heads of Garlick, a Bundle of old Rue, six Ounces of scissile or flaky Alum sifted, two Pounds of old Hogs-lard, an Handful of Ass’s fresh Dung, mix them together, and boil them at Home, and upon your Journey use them in the Evening as you have a Mind.
1758. Binnell, Descr. Thames, 171. A fat, luscious and flaky Fish like the Salmon.
1784. J. Twamley, Dairying, 98. It is warmth that Cheese Ripe, improves the colour, and causes Cheese to cut Flakey, the surest sign of excellent quality.
1837. M. Donovan, Dom. Econ., II. 5. Arrived in London the fish is cut down to the bone, in several transverse sections: the fibre contracts, a certain ruggedness appears on the cut surface; and the flesh when boiled becomes firm and flaky.
1837. Hawthorne, Twice-told T. (1851), I. viii. 179. How delightful to let the fancy revel on the dainties of a confectioner: those pies, with such white and flaky paste, their contents being a mystery, whether rich mince, with whole plums intermixed, or piquant apple, delicately rose flavored; those cakes, heart-shaped or round, piled in a lofty pyramid.
1841–71. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 728. The flaky lateral muscles of the caudal region disappear altogether.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xii. 162. The bright light that lay warm on the fresh grass, and on the ivied walls about, lighted up the flaky red surface of the old tower, and showed us the bruised effigy of King Edgar in sharp outline.
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Flaky-spar.… The local name given to this spar is very likely due to the manner in which its beautiful rhomboidal prisms sever or flake.
3. Full of locks or tufts of hair.
1803. Pic Nic, No. 7 (1806), II. 32.
| His [an ass’s] flaky ears prick’d up withal, | |
| And stood in posture musical. |
1877. Black, Green Past., xxxviii. (1878), 304. The Lieutenant, his face glowing after the wet, and his beard in twisted and flaky tangles.
Hence Flakily adv., in a flaky manner. Flakiness, the quality or condition of being flaky.
1831. J. Wilson, Winter Rhapsody, in Blackw. Mag., XXIX. Feb., 306/1. There lies a fresh fall—and a better day for a [snowball] Bicker never rose flakily from the yellow East.
1748. Phil. Trans., XLV. 364. Brine-Salt hath evermore two main Defects, Flakyness and Softness.
