flat
     adj 1: having a horizontal surface in which no part is higher or
            lower than another; "a flat desk"; "acres of level
            farmland"; "a plane surface" [syn: {level}, {plane}]
     2: having no depth or thickness
     3: not modified or restricted by reservations; "a categorical
        denial"; "a flat refusal" [syn: {categoric}, {categorical},
         {unconditional}]
     4: stretched out and lying at full length along the ground;
        "found himself lying flat on the floor" [syn: {prostrate}]
     5: lacking contrast or shading between tones [ant: {contrasty}]
     6: lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone; "B flat" [ant: {natural},
         {sharp}]
     7: flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain
        leafstalks or flatfishes) [syn: {compressed}]
     8: lacking taste or flavor or tang; "a bland diet"; "insipid
        hospital food"; "flavorless supermarket tomatoes"; "vapid
        beer"; "vapid tea" [syn: {bland}, {flavorless}, {flavourless},
         {insipid}, {savorless}, {savourless}, {vapid}]
     9: lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting; "a bland
        little drama"; "a flat joke" [syn: {bland}]
     10: having lost effervescence; "flat beer"; "a flat cola"
     11: not increasing as the amount taxed increases [syn: {fixed}]
     12: not made with leavening; "most flat breads are made from
         unleavened dough" [syn: {unraised}]
     13: parallel to the ground; "a flat roof"
     14: without pleats [syn: {unpleated}]
     15: lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an
         illusion or depth; "a film with two-dimensional
         characters"; "a flat two-dimensional painting" [syn: {two-dimensional}]
     16: (of a tire) completely or partially deflated
     17: not reflecting light; not glossy; "flat wall paint"; "a
         photograph with a matte finish" [syn: {mat}, {matt}, {matte},
          {matted}]
     18: lacking variety in shading; "a flat unshaded painting"
     n 1: a level tract of land
     2: a shallow box in which seedlings are started
     3: a musical notation indicating one half step lower than the
        note named
     4: freight car without permanent sides or roof [syn: {flatcar},
         {flatbed}]
     5: a deflated pneumatic tire [syn: {flat tire}]
     6: scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted
        canvas; part of a stage setting
     7: a suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house
        [syn: {apartment}]
     adv 1: at full length; "he fell flat on his face"
     2: with flat sails; "sail flat against the wind"
     3: below the proper pitch; "she sang flat last night"
     4: against a flat surface; "he lay flat on his back"
     5: in a forthright manner; candidly or frankly; "he didn't
        answer directly"; "told me straight out"; "came out flat
        for less work and more pay" [syn: {directly}, {straight}]
        [ant: {indirectly}]
     6: wholly or completely; "He is flat broke"
     [also: {flatting}, {flatted}, {flattest}, {flatter}]
Source: WordNet® 2.0

flat adj. 1. [common] Lacking any complex internal structure. "That
   {bitty box} has only a flat filesystem, not a hierarchical one." The
   verb form is {flatten}. 2. Said of a memory architecture (like that of
   the VAX or 680x0) that is one big linear address space (typically with
   each possible value of a processor register corresponding to a unique
   core address), as opposed to a `segmented' architecture (like that of
   the 80x86) in which addresses are composed from a base-register/offset
   pair (segmented designs are generally considered {cretinous}).

   Note that sense 1 (at least with respect to filesystems) is usually
   used pejoratively, while sense 2 is a {Good Thing}.


Source: The Jargon File