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flour

noun, verb — 7 senses

flour

noun

UK /ˈflaʊ.ə/ · CA, US /ˈflaʊ.ɚ/

Etymology Spelled (until about 1830) and meaning flower in the sense of flour being the "finest portion of ground grain" (compare French fleur de farine, fine fleur). Doublet of fleur, flor, and flower. Partially displaced native meal. The U.S. standard of identity comes from 21CFR137.105.

1

Usually Powder obtained by grinding or milling cereal grains, especially wheat, or other foodstuffs such as soybeans and potatoes, and used to bake bread, cakes, and pastry.

  • Everything a living animal could do to destroy and to desecrate bed and walls had been done. […] A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
2

Usually The food made by grinding and bolting cleaned wheat (not durum or red durum) until it meets specified levels of fineness, dryness, and freedom from bran and germ, also containing any of certain enzymes, ascorbic acid, and certain bleaching agents.

US standards of identity

3

Usually Powder of other material.

  • mustard flour
4

Obsolete, Usually Obsolete form of flower.

  • that nobody is wished to see my dead body. & that no murnurs walk behind me at my funeral. & that no flours be planted on my grave.1886 May, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:
Derived terms
37 termsall-purpose flour, beanflour, beflour, bread flour, cold flour, cornflour, cricket flour, flour beetle, flour corn, flour gold, flourless, flourlike, flourman, flourmill, flour mill, flour mite, flour-monger, flour moth, flour paste, floursack, flour treatment agent, glacial flour, graham flour, mesquite flour, moth flour, national flour, nonflour, pastry flour, pea flour, rice flour, rock flour, rye flour, second flour, self-raising flour, self-rising flour, strong flour, wood flour
Related terms
bran, farina, meal, smeddum, wheatmeal

flour

verb

Etymology Spelled (until about 1830) and meaning flower in the sense of flour being the "finest portion of ground grain" (compare French fleur de farine, fine fleur). Doublet of fleur, flor, and flower. Partially displaced native meal. The U.S. standard of identity comes from 21CFR137.105.

1

To apply flour to something; to cover with flour.

2

To reduce to flour.

3

To break up into fine globules of mercury in the amalgamation process.

Derived terms
reflour, unfloured

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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