Forms: 1–2 floc, flooc, 5–6 floke, (5 flewke,) 6–9 flook(e, 6–7 flouk(e, (6 Sc. fluike), 8–9 fleuk, flowk, (8 dial. fleak, fluck, 9 dial. fluik), 4– fluke. [OF. flóc str. (of uncertain gender), cognate with ON. flóke wk. masc.; related by ablaut to Ger. flach flat.]
1. A flat fish, esp. the common flounder, Pleuronectes Flesus.
a. 700. Epinal Gloss., 802. Platisa, flooc.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Colloq., in Wr.-Wülcker, 94. Fage and floc and lopystran and fela swylces.
14[?]. Nom., ibid., 705. Hic pelanius, a flewke.
1478. Botoner, Itin. (Nasmith, 1778), 291. Homines possunt piscare … de flokes.
1523. Fitzherbert, The Boke of Husbandry, § 55. And thou cut the lyuer [of a rotten shepe] therin wylbe lytell quicknes lyke flokes.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 106 b.
| There sucking Millet, swallowing Basse, | |
| Side-walking Crab, wry-mouthed Flooke, | |
| And slip-fist Eele, as euenings passe, | |
| For safe bayt at due place doe looke. |
1744. Preston, in Phil. Trans., XLIII. 61/2. In the Sea they catch … Flukes, Trouts, &c.
1790. Mrs. A. Wheeler, Westmld. Dial., 28. If thaul gang wie me I’ll gie the a Fleak an a Pot-ful a Saur Milk.
1819. Scott, Antiq., xi. I’ll bid you a shilling for the fluke and the cock-padle, or sixpence separately.
b. as a type of flatness.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1088. Flatt-mowthede as a fluke, with fleryande lyppys.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Flyting w. Polwart, 111. I’s fell thee like a fluike, flatlings on the flure.
1804. R. Anderson, Cumberld. Ball., 106. Her feet flat and braid, as big fluiks.
c. slang. = FLAT sb.3 13.
1804. Sporting Mag., XXIII. 201/1. The unguarded flukes, whom they can inveigle to play, and whose easy, though infamous emoluments, procured in this way, tempt thousands of our inexperienced youth to abandon their industrious pursuits.
2. A parasitic trematoid worm, of several species, found esp. in the livers of sheep, so called from its resemblance to a fluke or flounder.
[Cf. quot. 1523 in sense 1.]
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. v. § 2. 123. Insects … whose shape doth somewhat resemble a Flounder, found … in … the liver of several of the Ruminant kind…. Fluke.
1755. Nicholls, in Phil. Trans., XLIX. 247. A small flat worm, resembling a sole (and often many of them), is found in the gall-duct, by the butchers term’d flooks.
1845. Budd, Dis. Liver, 399. In the winter of 1843, fourteen flukes were found by Mr. Busk in the duodenum of a Lascar, who died in the Dreadnought.
1884. in Chamb. Jrnl., 3 May, 278/2. The progress of the fluke from the embryo to the adult stage.
3. A variety of kidney potato, perh. so called from its shape.
1868. N. & Q., Ser. IV. I. 100.
1874. E. H. Ruddock, Text-bk. Mod. Med. (1893), 38. The best sorts [of potatoes] are the Kent, York, and Scotch regents, the Forty-fold, and the Fluke.
1884. in Chesh. Gloss.
4. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib. (sense 2), as fluke-disease, -worm; b. instrumental (sense 2), as fluke-infested adj.; c. similative (sense 1), as fluke-mouthed adj. Also fluke-rake, a rake with triangular prongs used for taking flukes; fluke-wort (see quot. 1861).
1884. Chamb. Jrnl., 3 May, 278/1. By this disease—Liver-fluke, *Fluke Disease, Liver-rot, as it is variously termed—it has been estimated that as many as one million sheep perished annually. Ibid., 278. Unwholesome dropsical meat, from the bodies of *fluke-infested sheep, is frequently pushed on the market.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2780. Thow wenes for to flay vs, *ffloke-mowthede schrewe!
1766. Brookes, Art Angling, 85. In the hot Months, there are great Quantities caught with the *Fluke-Rake.
1794–6. E. Darwin, Zoon. (1801), IV. 250. Sheep, which are liable to a perpetual dry cough, when the *fleuk-worm is preying on the substance of thseir livers.
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), III. 395. Fluke-worms are oftentimes very numerous in the viscera of quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and reptiles.
1597. Gerard, Herball, II. cxliii. § 3. 424. In Northfolke it [Water Pennywoort] is called *Flowkwourt.
1861. Mrs. Lankester, Wild Flowers, 61. It [Marsh Pennywort] is also known as Pennygrass, White-rot, Fluke-wort, and Sheep’s-bane. These latter names it has obtained on account of its being supposed to produce the rot and other diseasess in animals that feed upon it.
