flat

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Smooth and level, with no part higher than another.

   We need a flat surface to set up the tent.

2. 2
   adj

   Lying stretched out close to a surface.

   He lay flat on the floor to rest.

3. 3
   adj

   Having lost its bubbles or fizz.

   The soda went flat after sitting open all night.

4. 4
   noun

   A wide, level area of land.

   We drove across the salt flats of Utah.

From an alteration (due to Scots flatt (“a level part of a structure”)) of Scots flet, flett (“inner part of a house”), from Middle English flet (“dwelling”), from Old English flet, flett (“ground floor, dwelling”), from Proto-West Germanic *flati, from Proto-Germanic *flatją (“floor”), from Proto-Germanic *flataz (“flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”). Akin to Old Frisian flet, flette (“dwelling, house”). More at flet, flat₁.

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