different between flaw vs blot

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English flawe, flay (“a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter”), probably from Old Norse flaga (“a flag or slab of stone, flake”), from Proto-Germanic *flag? (“a layer of soil”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl?k- (“broad, flat”). Cognate with Icelandic flaga (“flake”), Swedish flaga (“flake, scale”), Danish flage (“flake”), Middle Low German vlage (“a layer of soil”), Old English fl?h (“a frament, piece”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?fl??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?fl?/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /?fl?/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophone: floor (in non-rhotic accents with the horse–hoarse merger)

Noun

flaw (plural flaws)

1. (obsolete) A flake, fragment, or shiver.
2. (obsolete) A thin cake, as of ice.
3. A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.
4. A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.

   • Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?

   1. (in particular) An inclusion, stain, or other defect of a diamond or other gemstone.
   2. (law) A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid or ineffective.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:defect

Derived terms

• flawful
• flawless
• flawsome
• tragic flaw

Translations

Verb

flaw (third-person singular simple present flaws, present participle flawing, simple past and past participle flawed)

1. (transitive) To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
2. (intransitive) To become imperfect or defective; to crack or break.

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably Middle Dutch vl?ghe or Middle Low German vl?ge. Or, of North Germanic origin, from Swedish flaga (“gust of wind”), from Old Norse flaga; all from Proto-Germanic *flag?n-. See modern Dutch vlaag (“gust of wind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fl??/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

flaw (plural flaws)

1. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration; windflaw.
   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, The Marriage of Geraint

     Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn.

2. A storm of short duration.
3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder

   Synonyms: tumult, uproar, quarrel

Translations

References

Anagrams

• AFLW, WAFL

Sranan Tongo

Verb

flaw

1. To faint.

English

Etymology

From Middle English blot (“blot, spot, stain, blemish”). Perhaps from Old Norse *blettr (“blot, stain”) (only attested in documents from after Old Norse transitioned to Icelandic blettur), or from Old French bloche (“clod of earth”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bl?t/
• Rhymes: -?t
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bl?t/

Noun

blot (plural blots)

1. A blemish, spot or stain made by a coloured substance.
   • 1711, Jonathan Swift, An Excellent New Song

     I withdrew my subscription by help of a blot, / And so might discover or gain by the plot:

   • 1918, Siegfried Sassoon, “The Death-Bed” in The Old Huntsman and Other Poems, London: Heinemann, p. 95,^[1]

     […] He was blind; he could not see the stars

     Glinting among the wraiths of wandering cloud;

     Queer blots of colour, purple, scarlet, green,

     Flickered and faded in his drowning eyes.

2. (by extension) A stain on someone's reputation or character; a disgrace.
3. (biochemistry) A method of transferring proteins, DNA or RNA, onto a carrier.
4. (backgammon) An exposed piece in backgammon.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

blot (third-person singular simple present blots, present participle blotting, simple past and past participle blotted)

1. (transitive) to cause a blot (on something) by spilling a coloured substance.
2. (intransitive) to soak up or absorb liquid.

   This paper blots easily.

3. (transitive) To dry (writing, etc.) with blotting paper.
4. (transitive) To spot, stain, or bespatter, as with ink.
   • 1566, George Gascoigne, Dan Bartholmew of Bath

     The briefe was writte and blotted all with gore, […]

5. (transitive) To impair; to damage; to mar; to soil.
6. (transitive) To stain with infamy; to disgrace.
   • 1707, Nicholas Rowe, The Royal Convert

     Blot not thy Innocence with guiltle?s Blood.

7. (transitive) To obliterate, as writing with ink; to cancel; to efface; generally with out.

   to blot out a word or a sentence
8. (transitive) To obscure; to eclipse; to shadow.
   • 1656, Abraham Cowley, Davideis

     He ?ung how Earth blots the Moons gilded Wane, […]

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Bolt, bolt

Danish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle Low German bl?t (“bare”), from Proto-Germanic *blautaz (“void, emaciated, soft”), cognate with German bloß (“bare”) and Danish blød (“soft”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?l?d?]

Adjective

blot (plural and definite singular attributive blotte)

1. (dated) mere, very

Adverb

blot

1. (slightly formal) only, merely

Synonyms

• kun, bare

Etymology 2

Borrowed Old Norse blót, from Proto-Germanic *bl?t?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?lo?d?]

Noun

blot

1. a sacrifice (especially a blood sacrifice by heathens)

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?l?d?]

Verb

blot

1. imperative of blotte

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?lo?d?]

Verb

blot

1. imperative of blote

Low German

Etymology

From Middle Low German bl?t (“bare”), from Proto-Germanic *blautaz (“void, emaciated, soft”), cognate with German bloß (“bare”) and Danish blød (“soft”). Spelling variant of bloot.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?blo??t]

Adverb

blot

1. only, merely

Synonyms

• blots, man

References

• Der neue SASS: Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch, Plattdeutsch - Hochdeutsch, Hochdeutsch - Plattdeutsch. Plattdeutsche Rechtschreibung, sixth revised edition (2011, ?ISBN, Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster)

Luxembourgish

Adjective

blot

1. neuter nominative of blo
2. neuter accusative of blo

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *bl?t?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blo?t/

Noun

bl?t n

1. a sacrifice, especially a blood sacrifice by heathens