Flaw1, n.
n. [Cf. A-S. flōh, fragment, piece, from flēan, to flay, Icel. flag, naked earth after the clods are broken up, flaga, clod, twig, scion, flaga, to break up the clods, to injure the skin slightly, flō, any thing spread out, Sw. flā, id., Norw. flage, flāag, a sudden gust of wind; W. flaw, a piece shivered off, splinter, rag, dart, banner.]
Sense 1. A bursting or cracking; a breach; a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion; as, a flaw in a knife, a vase, or a wall.
This heart Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws. Shak.
Sense 2. (Naut.) A sudden burst of wind; a sudden gust or blast of short duration.
Snow and hail and stormy gust and flaw. Milton.
Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn. Tennyson.
Sense 3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder; a tumult; uproar; a quarrel.
There grew a flaw between us. J. Webster.
And deluges of armies from the town Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw. Dryden.
Sense 4. Any defect made by violence or occasioned by neglect; 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.
Synonyms—Blemish; fault; imperfection; spot; speck.