Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Flank |
FlankNoun1. The side of military or naval formation; "they attacked the enemy's right flank". 2. A subfigure consisting of a side of something. 3. A cut from the fleshy part of an animal's side between the ribs and the leg. 4. The side between ribs and hipbone. Verb1. Be located at the sides of something or somebody. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "flank" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Mechanical Engineering | The surface on a twist drill point which extends behind the tip to the following flute(UK). Surface between margin and heel of twist drill(USA). Source: European Union. (references) |
| The side of a gear tooth. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| Tool surface over which the surface produced on the workpiece passes. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Military | 1) the right or left of a formation; the side (e.g. left flank, right flank)2) a straight section of parapet making up a larger earthwork that delivers enfilading fire. (references) |
Mining | A syn. for limb of a fold. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A flank is the side of either a horse or a military unit.The parts of a military unit are regularly called the "left flank", "right flank" and "center". The use of these terms came from a time when armies would clash in an open field, but is still used today. Throughout military history, a common tactic has been to try to catch the enemy forces in the flank, see below.
To flank is a verb, meaning to catch someone or something in the side (the flank, see above) or even from behind in order to attack them. The use of attack from an unexpected direction is generally very effective, and severely limits the offensive response possible for the attacked party. Flanking manoevers (that is, movement in order to flank an enemy) are used on all levels of military tactics, from individual soldier up to army divisions. See also ambush and charge.
See also Pincer maneuver.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Flank."
Synonym: FlankSynonym: wing (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Laterality | Verb: be on one side; adVerb: flank, outflank; sidle; skirt; orientate. |
Noun: laterality; side, flank, quarter, lee; hand; cheek, jowl, jole, wing; profile; temple, parietes, loin, haunch, hip; beam. | |
Safety | Make safe, render safe; Adjective:; protect; take care of; (care); preserve; cover, screen, shelter, shroud, flank, ward; guard; (defend); secure; (restrain); entrench, intrench, fence round; (circumscribe); house, nestle, ensconce; take charge of. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Flank |
| English words defined with "flank": burst ♦ Demibastion, Demigorge ♦ Epaule ♦ Flank march, flank steak, Flanked, Flanking, fusillade ♦ go around ♦ in the air ♦ Open flank, Orillon, outflank ♦ Retired flank ♦ salvo ♦ volley. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "flank": axial-plane cleavage ♦ Barber Pole ♦ cycloidal gear teeth, cycloidal teeth ♦ forelimb thrust, Forward Flank Downdraft ♦ βουτυÏόψαÏα ♦ involute and pitch testing machine, involute profile checker and lead checking machine ♦ major cutting edge, Mesocyclone, Mudflow ♦ outflanking ♦ relief milling ♦ Satellite vent, SKIN LIFTER, BACON, stifle joint ♦ Volcanic landslide. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "flank": Mesaraic. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Flank" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Dutch (side), Swedish (flank, side). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Rafer and I will go deep around and take them in the flank. (The Wild Geese; writing credit: Daniel Carney; Reginald Rose) Don't you know your right flank from your left flank (History of the World: Part I; writing credit: Mel Brooks) I'm sorry sir, I flunked flank. (History of the World: Part I; writing credit: Mel Brooks) My Lord, if we re-form and wheel right, we may be able to turn their flank. (The Patriot; writing credit: Robert Rodat) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
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| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Yellow iron oxide covered lava rock on the flank of Loihi submarine volcano. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP). |  | U.S. Navy minelayers steaming in column in the North Sea, September 1918. At left, British destroyers are covering the formation's flank with a smoke screen. Ships in the minelayer column are (from front to rear): Roanoke, Housatonic, Quinnebaug and Baltimore. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Architectural drawing for an Episcopal church ("Trinity Episcopal Church"), 3rd Street and C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. North flank elevation. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The battle of Antietam--Charge of Burnside 9th Corps on the right flank of the Confederate Army / E. Forbes. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Attack of Genl. Ewell's Corps (Johnston's division), formerly under Stonewall Jackson, on the right flank of the Union Army on Culp's Hill held by the 12th Corps (Gen. Slocum) during the battle of Gettysburg. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Charge of the Union troops on the left flank of the army commanded by Gen. Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Heron Creek--on which the right flank of the Army of the Potomac rests. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The cuirassiers, attacked front, flank, and rear, by infantry and cavalry, were compelled to face in all directions |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | If the kidney is infected, your child may complain of pain under the side of the rib cage (the flank) or low back pain. Crying or complaining that it hurts to urinate and producing only a few drops of urine at a time are other signs of urinary tract infection. (references) | |
Economic History | Azerbaijan | Azerbaijan approved the CFE flank agreement in May, 1997. It also has acceded to the nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty as a non-nuclear weapons state. (references) |
Greece | Hitler was forced to divert German troops to protect his southern flank and attacked Greece in early April 1941. By the end of May, the Germans had overrun most of the country, although Greek resistance was never entirely suppressed. (references) | |
Political Economy | Israel | The National Union party comprises breakaways from the National Religious Party, and the extreme right wing Moledet represents the ultra-nationalist flank of the political spectrum and joined in 1999 with Yisrael Beiteinu, a right-wing Russian immigrant party. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Flank" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 93.09% of the time. "Flank" is used about 391 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 93.09% | 364 | 14,842 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 4.6% | 18 | 82,615 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 1.79% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.51% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 391 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "flank" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Flank | Last name | 170 | 47,427 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "flank": exposed flank ♦ Flank attack ♦ Flank company ♦ Flank defense ♦ Flank en potence ♦ Flank files ♦ flank groin(beef and horse) ♦ flank guard ♦ Flank march ♦ Flank movement ♦ flank of spar ♦ Flank Pain ♦ Flank patrol ♦ flank post ♦ flank protection ♦ flank steak ♦ minor flank ♦ oblique flank ♦ open flank ♦ outer flank ♦ retired flank ♦ reverse flank ♦ thick flank ♦ To turn the enemy's flank ♦ tooth flank. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "flank": flank-forward, flank-guard, flank-man, flank-vault. | |
Ending with "flank": left-flank, rock-flank, two-flank. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "flank"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | rri përbri, rrethoj (begird, beleaguer, beset, besiege, border on, circle, circumscribe, circumvent, close in, close on, compass, embosom, embower, encircle, enclose, encompass, engird, engirdle, entwine, envelop, environ, fence in, fold, gird, girdle, hedge in, hem, inclose, invest, lap, leaguer, pocket, rail, rim, ring, round up, span, surround, wreathe), ndodhet pranë, krah (arm), ijë (groin, haunch, hip, loins, side), i marr krahët (outflank), anë (side). (various references) | |
Arabic | كشح خاصرة (waist), هاجم جناح الجيش, قطعة من لحم الخاصرة, خاصرة (side), جناح (annexe, lean to, pavilion, suite, van, ward, wing), جانب (aspect, board, border, hand, part, phase, portion, quarter, side), أحاط بالشىء. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | страна (aspect, cheek, country, dimension, doorpost, face, half, hand, land, market, part, party, realm, region, side), склон (ascent, decline, declivity, descent, downhill, drop, hang, hanging, hillside, inclination, incline, pitch, pitching, ramp, side, slant, slope, talus, versant), слабина (groin), хълбок (hip, huckle), фланг (wing), застрашавам фланга на, заграждам (contain, edge, encircle, enclose, encompass, environ, fence, fence in, inclose, lock in, rail, shut in, stem, stop, throw around, throw round), пазя фланга на. (various references) | |
Chinese | 腹部 (abdomen, belly), 侧面. (various references) | |
Czech | strana (side), slabina (demerit, failing, groin, vice, weakness), bok (hip), úboèí (acclivity, hillside). (various references) | |
Danish | frigangsflade, frigang (back, clearance, land, minor flank), flanke, tværrib, tandflanke (face of tooth, tooth flank, tooth surface), slag (battle, blow, scuffle, struggle). (various references) | |
Dutch | flank (side), vrijloopvlak, tandflank (face of tooth, tooth flank, tooth surface), rugvlak (back, land, minor flank), hulpvrijloopvlak (back, land, minor flank). (various references) | |
Finnish | kylki (side). (various references) | |
French | flanchet (thin flank), flanc (tooth flank). (various references) | |
German | weiche (switch, alterable switch, groin, points, squashily), flanke (side). (various references) | |
Greek | πλευρό (rib, side), πλευρά (side). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לאגוף (outflank), לאגף (outflank), אגף (aisle, department, side, wing), אטמה, כתף (border, shoulder, side), צד (aspect, party, side). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szárny (fan-tail, lap, pinion, plane, vane), lágyék (loin), oldalszárny (lateral), oldalsánc (traverse), oldal (side), horpasz, hegyoldal (hillside, hill-side, side), hadsereg szárnya, dolgozó felület, épület oldalszárnya. (various references) | |
Indonesian | mengapit (hold by pressing between, press between), mendampingi (accompanying, closely assist). (various references) | |
Italian | fianco (side). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 脇腹 , 横腹 (side), 横っ腹 (side), 横合い (side), 側背 , 側面 (lateral, side, sidelight), 側面 (lateral, side, sidelight). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | そくめん (lateral, side, sidelight), そくはい, わきばら, よこばら (side), よこっぱら (side), よこあい (side). (various references) | |
Korean | 측면 (tangent, tangents). (various references) | |
Manx | shleeast (thigh), jannoo soiaghey lhiattagh, cur cheu ry-heu rish, boayn (environ), blean (groin, loin). (various references) | |
Maya | bobox. (various references) | |
Norwegian | flanke. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ankflay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | flanco (side). (various references) | |
Romanian | flanca, flanc (file, wing), fi pe parte, parte (part, piece, share, side), lua din flanc, coaste, aripã de clãdire (outhouse), apãra flancurile, ameninţa din flanc, întãri flancul unei armate, înconjura (surround). (various references) | |
Russian | сторона (aspect, behalf, cause, litigant, part, party, side, sides), флангировать сторона;фланг, фланг, быть расположенным сбоку, бок (hip, side, side elevation). (various references) | |
Scottish | slios (also, side or flank of man or beast, the side of a man or beast), dubhchlèin (the flank), blian (insipid, lean, the flank). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | flankirati, slabina (loin, side), bok (side). (various references) | |
Spanish | flanco (side, wing), ijar. (various references) | |
Swedish | flank (side). (various references) | |
Turkish | yanında olmak (accompany, neighbor, neighbour, stand by, stand to), yan tarafı korumak, yan (ancillary, aslant, asquint, awry, by-, bye-, collateral, flanking, lateral, parietal, side, sidelong, sideward, subordinate), sınırdaş olmak (march with), kanattan saldırmak, kanat (wing), böğür (ilium, side). (various references) | |
Turkmen | bцwьr (side). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | сторона (aspect, bearing, camp, phase, way), розташуватися обабіч, фланг (wing), бік (aspect, hand, hip, part, side, sidepiece, way), прилягати (abut, adjoin, neighbor upon, neighbour upon, outskirt). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sườn, cánh (aisle). (various references) | |
Welsh | ystlys (side), tenewyn. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | ala, alae, alam, alarum, alas, alis, costam, costas, costis, latera, latere, lateri, lateribus, lateris, laterum, latus, medala. (various references) |
| Avestan | 200-600 | karana. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "flank": flanked, flanken, flankens, flanker, flankers, flanking, flanks. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "flank": outflank. (additional references) | |
Words containing "flank": outflanked, outflanking, outflanks. (additional references) | |
| |
"Flank" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: falan, Falana, Falaniko, Fanek, fank, ffank, Filenko, flance, fland, flane, flang, flanke, flanky, flann, flant, flark, flean, flinc, flinck, flinf, Flink, flonk, flunck. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "flank" (pronounced fla"ngk) |
| 4 | -l a" ng k | blank, clank, lank, plank. |
| 3 | -a" ng k | antitank, bank, brank, crank, dank, drank, franc, Frank, Hank, interbank, nonbank, prank, rank, sank, shank, shrank, spank, stank, swank, tank, thank, yank. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-f-k-l-n" | |
-1 letter: flak, flan, lank. | |
-2 letters: fan, kaf. | |
-3 letters: al, an, fa, ka, la, na. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-f-k-l-n" | |
+1 letter: flanks. | |
+2 letters: fanlike, flaking, flanked, flanken, flanker, frankly, tankful. | |
+3 letters: blackfin, calfskin, fanglike, faunlike, fawnlike, flacking, flankens, flankers, flanking, franklin, outflank, tankfuls, thankful. | |
+4 letters: blackfins, calfskins, flakiness, frankable, franklins, lakefront, outflanks, snowflake. | |
+5 letters: cornflakes, filmmaking, lakefronts, outflanked, snowflakes, thankfully. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
