Flaw (fla̤), n. [OE. flai, flaw flake; cf. Sw. flaga flaw, crack, breach, flake, D. vlaag gust of wind, Norw. flage, flaag, and E. flag a flat stone.] 1. A crack or breach; a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion; as, a flaw in a knife or a vase.
This heart
Shall break into a hundered thousand flaws. Shak.
2. A defect; a fault; as, a flaw in reputation; a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute.
Has not this also its flaws and its dark side? South.
3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder; a tumult; uproar; a quarrel.
And deluges of armies from the town
Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw. Dryden.
4. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration.
Snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw. Milton.
Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn. Tennyson.
Syn. — Blemish; fault; imperfection; spot; speck.