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Flank   /flæŋk/   Listen
noun
Flank  n.  
1.
The fleshy or muscular part of the side of an animal, between the ribs and the hip.
2.
(Mil.)
(a)
The side of an army, or of any division of an army, as of a brigade, regiment, or battalion; the extreme right or left; as, to attack an enemy in flank is to attack him on the side. "When to right and left the front" "Divided, and to either flank retired."
(b)
(Fort.) That part of a bastion which reaches from the curtain to the face, and defends the curtain, the flank and face of the opposite bastion; any part of a work defending another by a fire along the outside of its parapet.
3.
(Arch.) The side of any building.
4.
That part of the acting surface of a gear wheel tooth that lies within the pitch line.
Flank attack (Mil.), an attack upon the side of an army or body of troops, distinguished from one upon its front or rear.
Flank company (Mil.), a certain number of troops drawn up on the right or left of a battalion; usually grenadiers, light infantry, or riflemen.
Flank defense (Fort.), protection of a work against undue exposure to an enemy's direct fire, by means of the fire from other works, sweeping the ground in its front.
Flank en potence (Mil.), any part of the right or left wing formed at a projecting angle with the line.
Flank files, the first men on the right, and the last on the left, of a company, battalion, etc.
Flank march, a march made parallel or obliquely to an enemy's position, in order to turn it or to attack him on the flank.
Flank movement, a change of march by an army, or portion of one, in order to turn one or both wings of the enemy, or to take up a new position.
Flanks of a frontier, salient points in a national boundary, strengthened to protect the frontier against hostile incursion.
Flank patrol, detachments acting independently of the column of an army, but patrolling along its flanks, to secure it against surprise and to observe the movements of the enemy.


verb
Flank  v. t.  (past & past part. flanked; pres. part. flanking)  
1.
To stand at the flank or side of; to border upon. "Stately colonnades are flanked with trees."
2.
To overlook or command the flank of; to secure or guard the flank of; to pass around or turn the flank of; to attack, or threaten to attack; the flank of.


Flank  v. i.  
1.
To border; to touch.
2.
To be posted on the side.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Flank" Quotes from Famous Books



... cry; the giraffes hear them and are away, rolling round the koppie like a ship in a heavy sea. No marrow-bones after all. See! the foremost dogs are close on a buck. He has galloped far and is outworn. One springs at his flank and misses him. The buck gives a kind of groan, looks wildly round and sees the waggon. He seems to hesitate a moment, then in his despair rushes up to it, and falls exhausted among the oxen. The dogs pull up some thirty paces away, panting and snarling. Now, boy, the gun—no, ...
— Allan's Wife • H. Rider Haggard
... he had. They knew he would do it, no matter what they thought. His method, as usual, was his own. He stepped to the adjoining field, and, selecting a clod with the steely polish of the plowshare upon it, threw it at the mare. It struck her on the flank. She gathered her feet under her in sudden alarm, then slowly relaxed, looked slyly for the old man, found him, and understanding, suddenly wheeled and ambled off home, leaving Seffy prone on the ground as her ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume II. (of X.) • Various
... about it, that he caught the broach whereon I was spitted and therewith killed my roaster stark dead, of which wound he died there for want of government or otherwise; for he ran him in with the spit a little above the navel, towards the right flank, till he pierced the third lappet of his liver, and the blow slanting upwards from the midriff or diaphragm, through which it had made penetration, the spit passed athwart the pericardium or capsule of his heart, and came out above at his shoulders, betwixt the spondyls ...
— Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete. • Francois Rabelais
... held the peace by hiding his face in his coffee cup. Sarah, though checked by this flank attack, was herself an old hand in the art. So temporary was the setback that she scarcely paused ere hurling her assault from a ...
— The Valley of the Moon • Jack London
... period that the English and French always fought: the French in massive column, the English in long line. Once again, as at Albuera and in many a stricken field, the line proved the conqueror. Overlapping the columns opposed to it, pouring scathing volleys upon each flank, and then charging on the shaken mass with the bayonet, the British regiments drove the enemy back beyond the hedgerows, and were with difficulty restrained from following them up the face of ...
— One of the 28th • G. A. Henty


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