flour

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable, usually) Powder obtained by grinding or milling cereal grains, especially wheat, or other foodstuffs such as soybeans and potatoes, and used to bake bread, cakes, and pastry.
2. (uncountable, usually) The food made by grinding and bolting cleaned wheat (not durum or red durum) until it meets specified levels of fineness, dryness, and freedom from bran and germ, also containing any of certain enzymes, ascorbic acid, and certain bleaching agents.
3. (uncountable, usually) Powder of other material.
4. (alt-of, obsolete, uncountable, usually) Obsolete form of flower.

Verb

1. (transitive) To apply flour to something; to cover with flour.
2. (transitive) To reduce to flour.
3. (intransitive) To break up into fine globules of mercury in the amalgamation process.

Synonyms

meal

powder

farina

dough

noodles

bread

🍞

mealy

wheat

starch

rice flour

grind

rice

🍚

grinding

make up

masticate

milk

🥛

mill

milling

paste

pound

💷

power

pulverize

rehash

semolina

succeed

whitewash

barley flour

fine flour

mouth off

any ground substance

powderise

cholk

arrowroot

dublinʼdust

cereal

cornbread

cornmeal

damper

dredge

dust

dusts

etc

face powder

flower

🌸

gravel

Translations

farine

harina

Mehl

farina

meel

farinha

farina

αλεύρι

bloem

🌸

un

طحين

دقيق

fariner

farina

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈflaʊ̯.ə/

Etymology

Cognate with French: fleur de farine

In summary

Spelled (until about 1830) and meaning flower in the sense of flour being the "finest portion of ground grain" (compare French fleur de farine, fine fleur). Doublet of fleur, flor, and flower. Partially displaced native meal.
The U.S. standard of identity comes from 21CFR137.105.