flitch

[ flich ]

noun

1. the side of a hog (or, formerly, some other animal) salted and cured:

   a flitch of bacon.

2. a steak cut from a halibut.
3. Carpentry.
   1. a piece, as a board, forming part of a flitch beam.
   2. a thin piece of wood, as a veneer.
   3. a bundle of veneers, arranged as cut from the log.
   4. a log about to be cut into veneers.
   5. cant ²( def 8 ).

verb (used with object)

1. to cut into flitches.
2. Carpentry. to assemble (boards or the like) into a laminated construction.

flitch

/ flɪtʃ /

noun

1. a side of pork salted and cured
2. a steak cut from the side of certain fishes, esp halibut
3. a piece of timber cut lengthways from a tree trunk, esp one that is larger than 4 by 12 inches

verb

1. tr to cut (a tree trunk) into flitches

Other Words From

• un·flitched adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of flitch¹

before 900; Middle English flicche, Old English flicca; cognate with Middle Low German vlicke, Old Norse flikki

Word History and Origins

Origin of flitch¹

Old English flicce ; related to Old Norse flikki , Middle Low German vlicke , Norwegian flika ; see flesh

Example Sentences

Here are butter and eggs, here is tea, here is sugar, and there is a flitch.

From Project Gutenberg

No one can smell boiled bacon far; but fried flitch can be smelled a mile by a good nose.

From Project Gutenberg

Of Flixton in Lancashire the authorities suggest, “perhaps a town of the flitch”.

From Project Gutenberg

Offer the ducks like the Dunmow flitch of bacon to the most happily married couple in Florence.

From Project Gutenberg

"He'd flitch his own mother," ventured Jim, on whose brain the dipperful of whiskey was producing mixed results.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• carve
• divide
• rip
• slash
• slice