floss

Meanings

Noun

• A thread used to clean the gaps between the teeth.
• Raw silk fibres.
• The fibres covering a corncob etc.; the loose downy or silky material inside the husks of certain plants, such as beans.
• Any thread-like material having parallel strands that are not spun or wound around each other.
• Spun sugar or cotton candy, especially in the phrase "candy floss".
• A body feather of an ostrich.
• A dance move in which the dancer repeatedly swings their arms, with clenched fists, from the back of their body to the front, on each side.
• A small stream of water.
• Fluid glass floating on iron in the puddling furnace, produced by the vitrification of oxides and earths which are present.
• The common rush (Juncus effusus).

Verb

• To clean the area between the teeth using floss.
• To show off, especially by exhibiting one's wealth or talent.
• To perform the floss dance move.

Origin

• Image:Spinning candy floss.jpg|thumb|right|A woman spinning candy floss.
• Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English *flos (attested in Middle English Flosmonger), related to English fleece. Alternatively from French floche ("tuft of wool"), from floc, from Old French flosche, from Latin floccus, probably from Frankish *flokkō, from Proto-Germanic *flukkô, from Proto-Indo-European *plewk-. Cognate with Old High German flocko ("down"), Middle Dutch vlocke ("flock"), Norwegian dialectal flugsa, Dutch flos ("plush") (tr=17c.).
• From dialectal flosh, from Middle English flosche, flusche, flasche, flaske, perhaps from Old French flache, from Middle Dutch vlacke. Compare also German Floss ("a float").
• Origin obscure. Perhaps of North Germanic origin. Compare Norwegian flos, flus.