Flaw (flô), n. [OE. flai,
flaw flake; cf. Sw. flaga flaw, crack, breach, flake,
D. vlaag gust of wind, Norw. flage, flaag, and
E. flag a flat stone.] 1. A crack or
breach; a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion; as, a
flaw in a knife or a vase.
This heart
Shall break into a hundered thousand flaws.
Shak.
2. A defect; a fault; as, a flaw in
reputation; a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a
statute.
Has not this also its flaws and its dark
side?
South.
3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder; a
tumult; uproar; a quarrel. [Obs.]
And deluges of armies from the town
Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw.
Dryden.
4. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short
duration.
Snow, and hail, and stormy gust and
flaw.
Milton.
Like flaws in summer laying lusty
corn.
Tennyson.
Syn. -- Blemish; fault; imperfection; spot; speck.
Flaw, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Flawed (flôd); p. pr. & vb.
n. Flawing.] 1. To crack; to
make flaws in.
The brazen caldrons with the frosts are
flawed.
Dryden.
2. To break; to violate; to make of no
effect. [Obs.]
France hath flawed the league.
Shak.