dislodged will be shattered: a gun-flint maker at Brandon, Suffolk, stated that it took him two years to acquire the art.
For accounts of the gun-flint manufacture at Brandon, and detailed descriptions of ancient flint-working, see Sir John Evans, Ancient Stone Implements (1897), Lord Avebury’s Prehistoric Times (1865, 1900); also Thomas Wilson, “Arrow-heads, Spear-heads and Knives of Prehistoric Times,” in Smithsonian Report for 1897; and W. K. Moorehead, Prehistoric Implements (1900).
FLOAT (in O. Eng. flot and flota, in the verbal form fléotan; the
Teutonic root is flut-, another form of flu-, seen in “flow,” cf.
“fleet”; the root is seen in Gr. πλέειν, to sail, Lat. pluere, to
rain; the Lat. fluere and fluctus, wave, is not connected), the
action of moving on the surface of water, or through the air.
The word is used also of a wave, or the flood of the tide, river,
backwater or stream, and of any object floating in water, as
a mass of ice or weeds; a movable landing-stage, a flat-bottomed
boat, or a raft, or, in fishing, of the cork or quill used to support
a baited line or fishing-net. It is also applied to the hollow or
inflated organ by means of which certain animals, such as the
“Portuguese man-of-war,” swim, to a hollow metal ball or piece
of whinstone, &c., used to regulate the level of water in a tank or
boiler, and to a piece of ivory in the cistern of a barometer.
“Float” is also the name of one of the boards of a paddle-wheel
or water-wheel. In a theatrical sense, it is used to denote the
footlights. The word is also applied to something broad, level
and shallow, as a wooden frame attached to a cart or wagon
for the purpose of increasing the carrying capacity; and to a
special kind of low, broad cart for carrying heavy weights, and
to a platform on wheels used for shows in a procession. The term
is applied also to various tools, especially to many kinds of trowels
used in plastering. It is also used of a dock where vessels may
float, as at Bristol, and of the trenches used in “floating” land.
In geology and mining, loose rock or ore brought down by water
is known as “float,” and in tin-mining it is applied to a large
trough used for the smelted tin. In weaving the word is used of
the passing of weft threads over part of the warp without being
woven in with it, also of the threads so passed. In the United
States a voter not attached to any particular party and open to
bribery is called a “float” or “floater.”
FLOCK. 1. (A word found in Old English and Old Norwegian,
from which come the Danish and Swedish words, and not in
other Teutonic languages), originally a company of people, now
mainly, except in figurative usages, of certain animals when
gathered together for feeding or moving from place to place.
For birds it is chiefly used of geese; and for other animals most
generally of sheep and goats. It is from the particular application
of the word to sheep that “flock” is used of the Christian
Church in its relation to the “Good Shepherd,” and also of
a congregation of worshippers in its relation to its spiritual
head.
2. (Probably from the Lat. floccus, but many Teutonic languages have the same word in various forms), a tuft of wool, cotton or similar substance. The name “flock” is given to a material formed of wool or cotton refuse, or of shreds of old woollen or cotton rags, torn by a machine known as a “devil.” This material is used for stuffing mattresses or pillows, and also in upholstery. The name is also applied to a special kind of wall-paper, which has an appearance almost like cloth, or, in the more expensive kinds, of velvet. It is made by dusting on a specially prepared adhesive surface finely powdered fibres of cotton or silk. The word “flocculent” is used of many substances which have a fleecy or “flock”-like appearance, such as a precipitate of ferric hydrate.
FLODDEN, or Flodden Field, near the village of Branxton,
in Northumberland, England (10 m. N.W. of Wooler), the scene
of a famous battle fought on the 9th of September 1513 between
the English and the Scots. On the 22nd of August a great
Scottish army under King James IV. had crossed the border.
For the moment the earl of Surrey (who in King Henry VIII.’s
absence was charged with the defence of the realm) had no
organized force in the north of England, but James wasted much
precious time among the border castles, and when Surrey
appeared at Wooler, with an army equal in strength to his own,
which was now greatly weakened by privations and desertion,
he had not advanced beyond Ford Castle. The English commander
promptly sent in a challenge to a pitched battle, which
the king, in spite of the advice of his most trusted counsellors,
accepted. On the 6th of September, however, he left Ford and
took up a strong position facing south, on Flodden Edge. Surrey’s
reproaches for the alleged breach of faith, and a second challenge
to fight on Millfield Plain were this time disregarded. The
English commander, thus foiled, executed a daring and skilful
march round the enemy’s flank, and on the 9th drew up for battle
in rear of the hostile army. It is evident that Surrey was confident
of victory, for he placed his own army, not less than the
enemy, in a position where defeat would involve utter ruin.
On his appearance the Scots hastily changed front and took
post on Branxton Hill, facing north. The battle began at 4 p.m.
Surrey’s archers and cannon soon gained the upper hand, and the
Scots, unable quietly to endure their losses, rushed to close
quarters. Their left wing drove the English back, but Lord
Dacre’s reserve corps restored the fight on this side. In all other
parts of the field, save where James and Surrey were personally
opposed, the English gradually gained ground. The king’s
corps was then attacked by Surrey in front, and by Sir Edward
Stanley in flank. As the Scots were forced back, a part of Dacre’s
force closed upon the other flank, and finally Dacre himself,
boldly neglecting an almost intact Scottish division in front of
him, charged in upon the rear of King James’s corps. Surrounded
and attacked on all sides, this, the remnant of the
invading army, was doomed. The circle of spearmen around
the king grew less and less, and in the end James and a few of his
nobles were alone left standing. Soon they too died, fighting to
the last man. Among the ten thousand Scottish dead were all
the leading men in the kingdom of Scotland, and there was no
family of importance that had not lost a member in this great
disaster. The “King’s Stone,” said to mark the spot where
James was killed, is at some distance from the actual battlefield.
“Sybil’s Well,” in Scott’s Marmion, is imaginary.
FLODOARD (894–966), French chronicler, was born at
Epernay, and educated at Reims in the cathedral school which
had been established by Archbishop Fulcon (822–900). As
canon of Reims, and favourite of the archbishops Herivaeus
(d. 922) and Seulfus (d. 925), he occupied while still young an
important position at the archiepiscopal court, but was twice
deprived of his benefices by Heribert, count of Vermandois, on
account of his steady opposition to the election of the count’s
infant son to the archbishopric. Upon the final triumph of
Archbishop Artold in 947, Flodoard became for a time his chief
adviser, but withdrew to a monastery in 952, and spent the
remaining years of his life in literary and devotional work. His
history of the cathedral church at Reims (Historia Remensis
Ecclesiae) is one of the most remarkable productions of the 10th
century. Flodoard had been given charge of the episcopal
archives, and constructed his history out of the original texts,
which he generally reproduces in full; the documents for the
period of Hincmar being especially valuable. The Annales
which Flodoard wrote year by year from 919 to 966 are doubly
important, by reason of the author’s honesty and the central
position of Reims in European affairs in his time. Flodoard’s
poetical works are of hardly less historical interest. The long
poem celebrating the triumph of Christ and His saints was called
forth by the favour shown him by Pope Leo VII., during whose
pontificate he visited Rome, and he devotes fourteen books to
the history of the popes.
Flodoard’s works were published in full by J. P. Migne (Patrologia Latina, vol. 135); a modern edition of the Annales is the one edited by P. Lauer (Paris, 1906). For bibliography see A. Molinier, Sources de l’histoire de France (No. 932).
FLOE (of uncertain derivation; cf. Norse flo, layer, level
plain), a sheet of floating ice detached from the main body of
polar ice. It is of less extent than the field of “pack” ice,
which is a compacted mass of greater depth drifting frequently
under the influence of deep currents, while the floating floe is
driven by the wind.
