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(
flætn
s) [f. FLAT a. + -NESS.]
1. The quality or condition of being flat or level; esp. of a country.
c1440 Promp. Parv. 164/2 Flatnesse,
planicies.
1601 HOLLAND Pliny II. lxv. 31 Wonderfull it remaineth..How it should become a Globe, considering so great flatnesse of Plaines and Seas.
1703 MOXON Mech. Exerc. 150 They try..the flatness of the whole Frame of Flooring again.
1796 MORSE Amer. Geog. I. 725 The perfect flatness of the coasts.
1838 Murray's Hand-bk. N. Germ. 372 The wearisome flatness and monotony of their..country.
2. The quality or fact of having a small curvature; diminished convexity.
1683 RAY Corr. (1848) 134 The flatness of its bill.
1796 H. HUNTER tr.
St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. p. iv, The flatness of the Earth at the Poles.
1816 J. SCOTT Vis. Paris (ed. 5) App. 324 To Neuilly, to view the bridge..celebrated for the flatness of its arches.
1870 W
HYMPER in
Alpine Jrnl. V. 6 The flatness of the curves of the
roches moutonnées.
3. a. ‘Want of relief or prominence’ (J.). spec. in Photogr. Cf. FLAT a. 4d.
1702 ADDISON Dial. Medals iii 164 One would think the Coiner look'd on the flatness of a figure as one of the greatest beauties in Sculpture.
1885 A. M F. R
OBINSON in
Mag. of Art Sept. 478/2 The brilliant light in which the outline is lost, the solidity almost to flatness..all remind us of Hans Holbein.
1889 E. J. WALL Dict. Photogr. 71
Flatness, a want of vigour and contrast in the negative and resulting prints, due to under- or over-exposure, or to the use of too strong or too weak a developer.
b. flatness of field (see quots. and flat field s.v. FLAT a. 15).
1867 J. HOGG Microsc. I. ii. 72 Flatness of field..denotes the exact capability of an objective to show the peripheral or marginal portions of the field with the same sharpness as the central.
1878 W. A
BNEY Treat. Photogr. 206 On the distance of the diaphragm from the lens is dependent the amount of distortion, as is also the size of the picture which the lens is capable of defining; whilst at the same time the flatness of the field is also in a great measure due to a large distance being maintained between them.
1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 805/2 To get tolerable definition and flatness of field a stop must be added.
1919 Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. Alm. 238 Flatness of field means the property of giving equal definition in all parts of the plate when photographing a flat subject with the lens pointed squarely to it.
4. The condition of having great breadth in proportion to the thickness.
1878 NEWCOMB Pop. Astron. III. iv. 344 The extreme thinness and flatness of the object.
5. a. Outspokenness, plainness (of speech).
1887 Poor Nellie (1888) 10 He feared he had contradicted the Archbishop with a flatness amounting to rudeness.
b. Absoluteness, unqualified condition.
1611 SHAKES. Wint. T. III. ii. 123 That he did but see The flatnesse of my miserie.
6. a. Want of incident or interest; monotony.
1882-3 H. S. HOLLAND in Schaff
Encycl. Relig. Knowl. III. 2051 The prosy flatness of common life.
b. Comm. Dullness, lack of competition.
1812 G. CHALMERS Dom. Econ. Gt. Brit. 419 The flatness..of the trade of Ireland.
1891 Times 10 Oct. 12/1 The flatness of the American market.
7. Deficiency in flavour; deadness, insipidity, vapidness.
1707 J. MORTIMER Husb. xx. 598 Deadness or Flatness in Cyder, which is often occasioned by the too free admission of Air into the Vessel.
1861 DELAMER Kitch. Gard. 93 A mixture of sorrel corrects the peculiar flatness of its flavour.
8. Of sound: Deadness.
1626 BACON Sylva §157 That Flatnesse of Sound is ioyned with a Harshnesse of Sound.
1734 WATTS Reliq. Juv. (1789) 160 Long custom has induced a sort of flatness into these sounds.
9. Want of spirit or energy; apathetic condition, dejectedness; lack of mental acuteness or alertness; dulness of mind.
1641 J. SHUTE Sarah & Hagar (1649) 84 Jezebel..reproached him with a flatness of spirit, as if he were not worthy to sway a Scepter.
1671 GLANVILL Disc. M. Stubbe Pref. Aijb, It would be look'd upon as flatness, or fear, if I should deal softly with such an Adversary.
1720 WELTON Suffer. Son of God I. xiii. 332 The disgust and Flattness of our Souls, in Relation to those never-fading Treasures.
1802 PALEY Nat. Theol. xxiii. (1803) 458 The flatness of being content with common reasons.
1810 KNOX &
JEBB Corr. II. 5 A flatness of mind was gradually stealing upon me.
1876 GEO. ELIOT Dan. Der. III. xxxvi. 97 We should stamp every possible world with the flatness of our own inanity.
10. Of an author, literary style, conversation, etc.: Want of animation, brilliancy, or pointedness; prosaic dulness.
1649 MILTON Eikon. xvi, To help those many infirmities, [in prayer]..rudeness, impertinencie, flatness, and the like, we have a remedy of Gods finding out
1715 POPE Iliad Pref., Some of his [Homer's] Translators having swell'd into Fustian..and others sunk into Flatness.
1741 WATTS Improv. Mind I. v. §10 For some scores of lines together there is a coldness and flatness.
1844 STANLEY Arnold (1858) II 144 The flatnesses of most of those who have written on this subject.
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