flatty, noun

Forms:
Also flattie.
Especially in the Eastern Cape:
1. [Named for the flattened appearance of the head.] white stumpnose, see stumpnose sense 2.
[1731 G. Medley tr. of P. Kolben’s Present State of Cape of G.H. II. 204There is another sort of Stone Brassems at the Cape...The Cape-Europeans call These Flat Noses, on Account of the Flatness of the Fore-part of the Head.]
1949 J.L.B. Smith Sea Fishes of Sn Afr. 268Rhabdosargus tricuspidens...Blinkvis (Witsand). Stumpnose or Stompneus (Knysna). Flatty (Eastern Cape). Silvie (East London). Silver Bream or Bream (Transkei — Natal).
1970 Albany Mercury 5 Feb. 14She had positively identified the fish as a Natal silver bream.., closely related to the prolific flatty — well known in our area.
1971 Grocott’s Mail 3 Sept. 3Some big flatties have been caught, up to 0,680 kg (1½ lb). (Another name for the ‘flatty’ is stump-nose or silver bream.)
1972 Daily Dispatch 26 Apr. 27Hartwell came home with..a blacktail of 0,9kg and a flatty of the same weight.
1979 Snyman & Klarie Free from Sea 54White Stumpnose, Blinkvis, Silvie, Flattie, Silver bream, Bream.
2. [see quotation 1988.] Any of several common household or ‘wall’ spiders (Anyphops sp.) of the Selenopidae. Also attributive.
1987 E. Prov. Herald 11 Apr. 5Meet fleet-footed flattie, a house guest credited with saving hosts from mosquitoes. Equipped with big eyes on swivelling stalks.
1988 Afr. Wildlife Vol.42 No.3, 93The wall-spider (or flat spider — commonly known as the ‘flatty’), an extremely fast-moving spider, which normally inhabits rocky terrain and which finds the walls of houses a suitable substitute. As the popular nickname ‘flatty’ implies, this type of spider is dorsoventrally flattened to an extraordinary degree and it can insinuate itself into the narrowest of crevices and cracks.
1990 Evening Post 17 Mar. 8I attributed our freedom from the mosquito nuisance to the presence of the flattie spiders. Their low profile, speed of movement and daylight hunting seemed to enable them to catch mosquitoes as they rested after their night shifts.
white stumpnose, see stumpnose sense 2.
Any of several common household or ‘wall’ spiders (Anyphops sp.) of the Selenopidae. Also attributive.
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17311990

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flats, plural nounpl. n.flauw, adjectiveadj.
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