Word.ws English Dictionary

flatlong

flatlong adverb: with the flat side downward; not edgewise.

Adverb

flatlong (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) With the flat side downward; not edgewise.
    • Antonio: What a blow was there given!
      Sebastian: An it had not fall'n flat-long.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
    • Yet the pittiless sword had such pity of so precious an object, that at first it did but hit flatlonga. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London...

Forms of flatlong

alternative formflat-long

Origin of flatlong

From alternation of the original flatling, by assimilating to long. More at flatling.

Questions about flatlong

What does flatlong mean?
Flatlong means with the flat side downward; not edgewise.
What part of speech is flatlong?
Flatlong is an adverb.

Words near flatlong in the dictionary

  1. flatlines
  2. flatling
  3. flatlings
  4. flatlining
  5. flatlock
  6. flatlong
  7. flatly
  8. Flatman
  9. flatmate
  10. flatmates
  11. flatmount

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: flatlong (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “flatlong.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flatlong. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.