flat out

== English == === Alternative forms === flat-out === Etymology === (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˌflæt ˈaʊt/ IPA(key): (noun) /ˈflæt ˌaʊt/ === Adjective === flat out (not comparable) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see flat,‎ out. Complete, total, downright. Very busy. (Australia) Lazy, sleeping. ==== Derived terms ==== flat out like a lizard drinking (Australian) === Adverb === flat out (not comparable) (idiomatic) At top speed. (idiomatic) Without hesitation or reservation, bluntly, no holds barred, totally, outright. 2006, Tony Rossi, Critique by guest commentator: Dr. Tony Rossi, Stephen Hagan, Australia's Blackest Sporting Moments: The Top 100, page 129, The media (in all its forms) has been known to stoop to even lower levels by flat out abusing non-whites such as the Bulletin's little description of Patrick Bowman reported above and then the Referee's self-congratulatory note that Evans (the Balmain nigger ped) had found gainful employment (at which he was 'very handy' rather than competent or skilled) and had ceased to waste everybody's time with his running. === Noun === flat out (plural flat outs) (US, dated) A total failure. A baked portion of flatbread; a baked item that is not meant to rise. (food) A wrap, an item of food consisting of various ingredients wrapped in a tortilla or pancake. (skiing) A section of piste that is relatively flat, causing or allowing skiers to slow down. (motor racing, horse racing) An uncambered corner of racetrack; a racetrack whose corners are uncambered. === Verb === flat out (third-person singular simple present flats out, present participle flatting out, simple past and past participle flatted out) (intransitive) To fail after a promising beginning; to disappoint expectations. 1894, Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Abroad, 2015, Tom Sawyer Collection: All Four Books, Enhanced Media, page 413, I see myself there warn't no sense in the tale, to chop square off that way before it come to anything, but I warn't going to say so, because I could see Tom was souring up pretty fast over the way it flatted out […] . (archaic, transitive) Synonym of flatten out (to make flat)