FLAKE

n. & v. --n. 1 a a small thin light piece of snow. b a similar piece of another material. 2 a thin broad piece of material peeled or split off. 3 Archaeol. a piece of hard stone chipped off and used as a tool. 4 a natural division of the flesh of some fish. 5 the dogfish or other shark as food. --v.tr. & intr. (often foll. by away, off) 1 take off or come away in flakes. 2 sprinkle with or fall in snowlike flakes. øflake out colloq. fall asleep or drop from exhaustion; faint. [ME: orig. unkn.: cf. ON flakna flake off]