<B>floodway, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a natural or artificial pathway by which excess water drains off in floodtime. </DL>
<A NAME="floodwood">
<B>floodwood, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> pieces of wood brought down by a flood. </DL>
<A NAME="flooey">
<B>flooey, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) out of order; askew. <BR> <I>Ex. Our combustion control just went flooey (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="floor">
<B>floor, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the part of a room to walk or stand on; inside bottom covering of a room. <BR> <I>Ex. The floor of this room is made of wood.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a flat surface at the bottom. <BR> <I>Ex. They dropped their net to the floor of the ocean.</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>a story of a building. <BR> <I>Ex. Five families live on the fifth floor.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>the level supporting surface in other structures. <BR> <I>Ex. the floor of a bridge or elevator.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>any large level surface. <BR> <I>Ex. a forest floor of pine needles and cones. (Figurative.) For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead, Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor (Milton).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>the part of a room or hall where members of a lawmaking body, convention, or the like, sit, and from which they speak. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Figurative.) the right to speak in a lawmaking body, convention, or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. "You may have the floor," said the chairman.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>the main part of an exchange, where buying and selling of stocks, bonds, or commodities, is done. <DD><B> 8. </B>(Informal.) the lowest level (of prices or amounts). <DD><B> 9. </B>(Mining.) an underlying stratum on which a seam of coal, or other mineral, lies. <DD><B> 10. </B>(Nautical.) the part of the bottom of a ship that is almost level on each side of the keelson. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to put a floor in or on. <BR> <I>Ex. The carpenter will floor this room with oak.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to knock down; shoot-down. <BR> <I>Ex. He floored the boy with one blow.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) to beat or defeat. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) to confuse or puzzle completely. <BR> <I>Ex. The last question on the examination was a problem that completely floored us.</I> (SYN) nonplus, confound. <DD><B> 5. </B>to press against the floorboard. <BR> <I>Ex. To start the car, turn on the ignition, and floor the accelerator.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>to place upon a floor; base. <BR><I>expr. <B>cross the floor,</B> </I>to change political parties. <BR> <I>Ex. Churchill crossed the floor of the House and became a Liberal (Atlantic).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>wipe the floor with,</B> </I>to inflict a crushing defeat on. <BR> <I>Ex. The Gaullists had won a resounding victory, wiping the floor with all their opponents (London Times).</I> adj. <B>floorless.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="floorage">
<B>floorage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the amount of floor, usually measured in square feet, available in a building or part of a building; floor space. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=flooring</B> (def. 2). </DL>
<A NAME="floorboard">
<B>floorboard, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>one of the boards of a wooden floor. <DD><B> 2. </B>Usually, <B>floorboards.</B> the floor of an automobile, especially of the driver's compartment. <BR> <I>Ex. Then the green flag fell and 33 big feet pushed 33 throttles to the floorboards (Time).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> (Informal.) to push (the accelerator) down to the floorboard of an automobile. </DL>
<A NAME="floorbroker">
<B>floor broker,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a member of a stock exchange who executes orders for other members. He does not deal directly with the public. </DL>
<A NAME="floorcloth">
<B>floorcloth, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a cloth or other material for covering a floor, such as linoleum. <DD><B> 2. </B>a cloth for washing or wiping floors. </DL>
<A NAME="floorer">
<B>floorer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who lays floors. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person or thing that strikes someone or something to the floor. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) something that confuses, puzzles, or embarrasses one, as a decisive retort or a hard question. </DL>
<A NAME="floorgirl">
<B>floor girl,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a girl or woman who does odd jobs in a store, workshop, etc. </DL>
<A NAME="flooring">
<B>flooring, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a floor. <DD><B> 2. </B>floors. <DD><B> 3. </B>material for making or covering floors, such as wood, linoleum, or tile. </DL>
<A NAME="floorlamp">
<B>floor lamp,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a tall lamp that stands on the floor. </DL>
<A NAME="floorleader">
<B>floor leader,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) the member of a lawmaking body chosen to direct the members who belong to his political party. <BR> <I>Ex. The floor leader has the responsibility of managing legislation on the floor of the Senate.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="floorlength">
<B>floor-length, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> reaching down to the floor. <BR> <I>Ex. floor-length draperies.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="floorman">
<B>floor man,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a representative of a brokerage house who operates on an exchange floor. </DL>
<A NAME="floormanage">
<B>floor-manage, </B>transitive verb, <B>-aged,</B> <B>-aging.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) to direct as a floor manager or floor leader. <BR> <I>Ex. Within two years he was floor-managing major New Deal legislation (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="floormanager">
<B>floor manager,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the manager of a particular floor in a hotel or department store. <BR> <I>Ex. [The] key would not open the door, so the porter got a passkey from the floor manager (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S.) <DD><B> a. </B>the campaign manager for a political candidate at a nominating convention. <DD><B> b. </B><B>=floor leader.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="floorplan">
<B>floor plan,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a diagram, drawn to scale, of a horizontal section of a room, or rooms, on the same level, showing the thickness of walls, the positions of openings, as doorways, and, often, other features. </DL>
<A NAME="floorshow">
<B>floor show,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an entertainment consisting of music, singing, dancing, or comedy acts, presented at a night club, hotel, or club. </DL>
<A NAME="floorspace">
<B>floor space,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the horizontal surface area of a room, floor, or building. <BR> <I>Ex. It will be a one-story structure with 12,000 square feet of floor space (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="floorthrough">
<B>floor-through, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) an apartment that takes up an entire floor. </DL>
<A NAME="floortrader">
<B>floor trader,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a member of a stock exchange who usually buys and sells for his own account only. </DL>
<A NAME="floorwalker">
<B>floorwalker, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person employed in a large store to direct the work of salesclerks and give assistance to customers. </DL>
<A NAME="floorward">
<B>floorward, </B>adverb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adv. </I> toward the floor. <BR> <I>Ex. The glass spun floorward, hit, and splintered.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> directed toward the floor. <BR> <I>Ex. a floorward glance of bashfulness and modesty.</I> </DL>
<B>floozie</B> or <B>floozy, </B>noun, pl. <B>floozies,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a girl or woman of loose morals. <BR> <I>Ex. To his current floozie he is an elderly bore with a useful wallet (Punch).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a girl or woman of not much intelligence or taste. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or characteristic of a floozie. <BR> <I>Ex. with a mincing, floozy strut (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="flop">
<B>flop, </B>verb, <B>flopped,</B> <B>flopping,</B> noun, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to move loosely or heavily; flap around clumsily. <BR> <I>Ex. The fish flopped helplessly on the deck.</I> (SYN) flounder, wriggle. <DD><B> 2. </B>to fall or move heavily or clumsily; plump down suddenly; come down with a flop. <BR> <I>Ex. The tired boy flopped down into a chair.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to change or turn suddenly. <BR> <I>Ex. He flopped over to the other point of view.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Informal.) to fail. <BR> <I>Ex. His first business venture flopped completely.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Slang.) to sleep. <BR> <I>Ex. The west end has ... stucco "motor courts," where a tired family can flop overnight (Harper's).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to drop or throw with a sudden bump or thud. <DD><B> 2. </B>to flap (wings) heavily and clumsily. <DD><B> 3. </B>to strike with a sudden blow. <DD><B> 4. </B>to reverse (a picture or image). <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the action of flopping. <BR> <I>Ex. Every stop caused a flop of the wide brim of her hat.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a dull, heavy sound made by flopping. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal.) a failure. <BR> <I>Ex. His last book was a flop.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B><B>=flophouse.</B> <DD><I>adv. </I> straight; directly. <BR> <I>Ex. He dropped the package flop on the couch.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="flophouse">
<B>flophouse, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a cheap, rundown hotel or rooming house for vagrant and homeless persons, usually in a very poor section of a city. </DL>
<A NAME="flopover">
<B>flopover, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) <DD><B> 1. </B>(Informal.) a turning over; turnover. <DD><B> 2. </B>a television image that appears as a series of frames running down the screen, due to faulty reception. </DL>
<A NAME="flopper">
<B>flopper, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> one that flops. </DL>
<A NAME="floppy">
<B>floppy, </B>adjective, <B>-pier,</B> <B>-piest,</B> noun, pl. <B>-pies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><I>adj. </I> tending to flop; flopping. <BR> <I>Ex. a floppy hat.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>=floppy disk.</B> adv. <B>floppily.</B> noun <B>floppiness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="floppydisk">
<B>floppy disk</B> or <B>disc,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a small, flexible, magnetically coated disk in which data is stored in digital form. <BR> <I>Ex. A one-ounce floppy disk can contain as much information as 3,000 punch cards (John R. Rice).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="flops">
<B>flops, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a unit of speed in the operation of a computer, often used in combination, as in <I>megaflops</I> (one million flops) and <I>gigaflops</I> (one billion flops). </DL>
<A NAME="flora">
<B>Flora, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the Roman goddess of flowers. </DL>
<A NAME="flora">
<B>flora, </B>noun, pl. <B>floras,</B> <B>florae.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>plants of a particular region or time. <BR> <I>Ex. the flora of the West Indies, the flora of the Carboniferous period.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a work that systematically describes such plants. </DL>