Meanings
flinder1
plural flinders · alternative flender
- A small piece or fragment; a thin slice; splinter
“It’s to swear to stand by one another, and never tell the gang’s secrets, even if you’re chopped all to flinders, and kill anybody and all his family that hurts one of the gang.”
1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXV, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 273
flinder2
present singular third person flinders · participle present flindering · participle past flindered · past flindered
- intransitiveTo flirt; run about in a fluttering manner
Origin
flinder · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*splind-“to split, cleave”
- Proto-Germanic*flintaz
- Norwegianflindra
- Middle Englishflendris
- Englishflinder
From Middle English flendris, of North Germanic origin, from or related to Norwegian flindra, from Proto-Germanic *flintaz, from Proto-Indo-European *splind- (“to split, cleave”).
More words from Middle English, Norwegian, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →flinder · noun, verb
- Middle Englishflindre
- Englishflinder
From Middle English flindre. Compare Dutch vlinder.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
flinder. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flinder
“flinder.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flinder. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “flinder,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flinder.
Source: flinder on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.