Bryson•s Dictionary for Writers and Editors

126
flaunt, flout / flounder, founder
flaunt, flout. To flaunt means to display ostentatiously, to show off.
To flout means to treat with contempt, to disregard in a smug
manner.
flautist. Person who plays a flute.
Fledermaus, Die. Operetta by Johann Strauss the Younger (1874).
Fleming. A native of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium;
the adjective is Flemish.
Fleming, Sir Alexander. (1881–1955) British bacteriologist, discoverer
of penicillin; shared Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in
1945.
fleugelhorn (or flügelhorn). Brass musical instrument.
fleur-de-lis, pl. fleurs-de-lis.
flexible.
flibbertigibbet. A scatterbrain.
floccinaucinihilipilification. The act of estimating as worthless; sometimes
cited as the longest word in English.
flora, fauna. The first means plants, the second animals.
florescent, fluorescent. The first means in flower, the second radiating
light.
floruit. (Lat.) Abbr. fl.; “flourished”; used when the exact dates lived
are not known. E.g., “Caedmon (fl. seventh c.).”
flotsam and jetsam. Jetsam is that part of a shipwreck that has been
thrown overboard (think of jettison) and flotsam that which has
floated off of its own accord. (A third type, wreckage found on
the sea floor, is called lagan.) There was a time when the distinction
was important: flotsam went to the crown and jetsam to the
lord of the manor on whose land it washed up.
flounder, founder. Founder means to sink, either literally (as with a
ship) or figuratively (as with a project). Flounder means to flail
helplessly. It too can be used literally (as with someone struggling
in deep water) or figuratively (as with a nervous person
making an extemporaneous speech).