FLUGEL

flugel, johann gottfried (1788-1855), german lexicographer, was born at barby near magdeburg, on the 22nd of november 1788. he was originally a merchant's clerk, but emigrating to the united states in 1810, he made a special study of the english language, and returning to germany in 1819, was in 1824 appointed lector of the english language in the university of leipzig. in 1838 he became american consul, and subsequently representative and correspondent of the smithsonian institution at washington and several other leading american literary and scientific institutions. he died at leipzig on the 24th of june 1855. the fame of flugel rests chiefly on the _vollstandige englisch-deutsche und deutsch-englische worterbuch_, first published in 2 vols. (leipzig) in 1830, which has had an extensive circulation not only in germany but in england and america. in this work he was assisted by j. sporschil, and a new and enlarged edition, edited by his son felix flugel (1820-1904), was published at brunswick (1890-1892). another edition, in two volumes, edited by prof. immanuel schmidt and s. tanger appeared (brunswick, london & new york) in 1906. among his other works are--_vollstandige engl. sprachlehre_ (1824-1826); _triglotte, oder kaufmannisches worterbuch in drei sprachen, deutsch, englisch und franzosisch_ (1836-1840); _kleines kaufmannisches handworterbuch in drei sprachen_ (1840); and _praktisches handbuch der engl. handelscorrespondenz_ (1827, 9th ed. 1873). all these have passed through several editions. in addition, flugel also published in the english language: _a series of commercial letters_ (leipzig, 1822), a 9th edition of which appeared in 1874 under the title _practical mercantile correspondence_ and a _practical dictionary of the english and german languages_ (2 vols., hamburg and leipzig, 1847-1852; 15th ed., leipzig, 1891). the last was continued and re-edited by his son felix. fluke (probably connected with the ger. _flach_, flat), a name given to several kinds of fish, flat in shape, especially to the common flounder; also the name of a trematoid worm, resembling a flounder in shape, which as a parasite infects the liver and neighbouring organs of certain animals, especially sheep, and causes liver-rot. the most common is the _fasciola hepatica_ (see trematodes). it is also the name of a species of kidney potato. probably from a resemblance to the shape of the fish, "fluke" is the name given to the holding-plates, triangular in shape, at the end of the arms of an anchor, and to the triangular extremities of the tail of a whale. the use of the word as a slang expression for a lucky accident appears to have been first applied in billiards to an unintentional scoring shot. flume (through an o. fr. word _flum_, from the lat. _flumen_, a river), a word formerly used for a stream, and particularly for the tail of a mill-race. it is used in america for a very narrow gorge running between precipitous rocks, with a stream at the bottom, but more frequently is applied to an artificial channel of wood or other material for the diversion of a stream of water from a river for purposes of irrigation, for running a sawmill, or for various processes in the hydraulic method of gold-mining (see aqueduct).