c. 1600, "with flat feet;" see flat (adj.) + foot (n.). Meaning "unprepared" is from 1912, U.S. baseball slang, on notion of "not on one's toes;" earlier in U.S. colloquial adverbial use it meant "straightforwardly, downright, resolute" (1828), from notion of "standing firmly."
双语例句
1. Early American weathervanes were most often cut from flat wooden boards.
美国早期的风向标大多截自平直的木板。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Warm weather has attracted the flat fish close to shore.
煦暖的气候将比目鱼引到了近海。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Two years later he is flat broke and on the dole.
两年后，他一贫如洗，靠失业救济金生活。
来自柯林斯例句
4. She had small feet and hands and a flat, round face.
她的手脚都很小，脸又扁又圆。
来自柯林斯例句
5. I lay the painting flat to stop the wet paint running.
