[f. FLAW sb.1]
1. trans. To make a flaw or crack in; to crack; to damage by a crack or fissure; to cause a defect in, mar.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 34. The blunt end … seemed irregularly flawed with divers clefts.
1676. Phil. Trans., XI. 755. The Mine-men do often strike such forcible strokes with a great Iron-crow, that that stuns the Diamond and so flaws it.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 558.
| The Brazen Cauldrons, with the Frost are flaw’d; | |
| The Garment, stiff with Ice, at Hearths is thaw’d. |
1794. Sullivan, View Nat., I. 362. Glass, by being reduced to powder, or otherwise flawed.
1800. E. Howard, in Phil. Trans., XC. 208. The breech … was torn open and flawed in many directions.
1854. Dickens, Hard T., 131. Handle them never so lightly, and they fell to pieces with such ease that you might suspect them of having been flawed before.
b. with immaterial object, or fig.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., I. i. 95.
| For France hath flaw’d the League, and hath attach’d | |
| Our merchants’ goods at Bourdeaux. | |
| Ibid., I. ii. 21. | |
| Which hath flaw’d the heart | |
| Of all their Loyalties. |
1638. Ford, Lady’s Trial, II. ii.
| He answer’d, | |
| My worship needed not to flaw his right. |
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, I. vii. (1869), 67. As Esmond has taken truth for his motto, it must be owned, even with regard to that other angel, his mistress, that she had a fault of character which flawed her perfections.
1887. Swinburne, Locrine, I. ii. 178.
| Have I not sinned already—flawed my faith, | |
| To lend such ear even to such royal suit? |
† c. To flaw off: to break off in ‘flaws’ or small pieces. Obs. Cf. to flake off.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 98. Other stones I have found so porous, that with the Microscope I could perceive several small winding holes, much like Worm-holes, as I have noted in some kind of Purbeck-stone, by looking on the surface of a piece newly flaw’d off; for if otherwise, the surface has been long expos’d to the Air, or has been scraped with any tool, those small caverns are fill’d with dust, and disappear.
† d. slang. To make drunk. Obs.
1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., 168. Q. Who is Master of a Ship? A. He that is flawed in the Company before the rest.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Flaw’d, drunk.
1725. in New Cant. Dict.
2. intr. To become cracked. † Also, to break off in flakes or small pieces (obs.)
1648. Herrick, Hesper. (1869), 68.
| And as this round | |
| Is no where found | |
| To flaw, or else to sever: | |
| So let our love | |
| As endless prove; | |
| And pure as gold for ever. |
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 33. Those that flaw’d off in large pieces were prettily branched.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 103. After it hath lain a few Years, it hath crack’d, flaw’d, and roses in ridges.
1774. Projects in Ann. Reg., 112/1. Made up into an amalgama of the consistence of common mortar, afford a coating, no less fit for the inside of buildings, than tenacious and incapable of cracking or flawing.
1831. Landor, Count Julian, Wks. 1846, II. 514/2.
| The original clay of coarse mortality | |
| Hardens and flaws around her. |
1857. P. Colquhoun, Comp. Oarsman’s Guide, 9. Elm is very apt to flaw and splinter short in the lans.
3. Sc. To lie or fib. Cf. FLAW sb.1 6.
1724. Ramsay, Gent. Sheph., II. i.
| But dinna flaw, | |
| Tell o’er your news again, and swear till ’t a’. |
