floss.
A thread used to clean the gaps between the teeth.
Meaning & usage
A thread used to clean the gaps between the teeth.
Raw silk fibres.
The fibres covering a corncob etc.; the loose downy or silky material inside the husks of certain plants, such as beans.
Any thread-like material having parallel strands that are not spun or wound around each other.
embroidery floss
Spun sugar or cotton candy, especially in the phrase "candy floss".
A body feather of an ostrich.
Flosses are soft, and grey from the female and black from the male.
A dance move in which the dancer repeatedly swings their arms, with clenched fists, from the back of their body to the front, on each side.
Where this word comes from
Unclear: * Possibly from French floche (“tuft of wool”), from floc, from Old French flosche (“down, velvet”), from Latin floccus (“piece of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokkō (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkô (“down, piece of wool, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). * Or, from Middle English *flos (attested in Middle English Flosmonger (a surname)), from Proto-West Germanic *fleus, related to English fleece. Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”), Dutch flos (“plush”) (tr=17c.).
To clean the area between (the teeth) using floss.
I don't floss very often.
I floss my teeth twice a day.
To show off, especially by exhibiting one's wealth or talent.
To perform the floss dance move.
Where this word comes from
Unclear: * Possibly from French floche (“tuft of wool”), from floc, from Old French flosche (“down, velvet”), from Latin floccus (“piece of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokkō (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkô (“down, piece of wool, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). * Or, from Middle English *flos (attested in Middle English Flosmonger (a surname)), from Proto-West Germanic *fleus, related to English fleece. Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”), Dutch flos (“plush”) (tr=17c.).
A small stream of water.
Fluid glass floating on iron in the puddling furnace, produced by the vitrification of oxides and earths which are present.
Where this word comes from
From dialectal flosh (“a flush, stream of water, sluice”), from Middle English flosche, flusche, flasche, flaske (“a watery or marshy place, swamp”), perhaps from Old French flache, from Middle Dutch vlacke (“a flat area, plain”), ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *fleutan. Compare also German Floss (“a float”).
The common rush (Juncus effusus).
Where this word comes from
Origin obscure. Perhaps of North Germanic origin. Compare Norwegian flos, flus (“rind, scale, strip peeled off”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.