flour

UK: /ˈflaʊə^r/ US: /flaʊr, ˈflaʊɚ/ ,(flou^ər, flou′ər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

flour /flaʊr, ˈflaʊɚ/   n. [uncountable]

1. Food the finely ground meal of grain, esp. wheat, used in baking and cooking:
   whole-wheat flour.

v. [~ + object]

2. Food to sprinkle or coat with flour.

flour•y, adj., -i•er, -i•est. See -flor-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

flour  (flou^ər, flou′ər), n. 

1. Food the finely ground meal of grain, esp. the finer meal separated by bolting.
2. Food the finely ground and bolted meal of wheat, as that used in baking.
3. Food a finely ground, powdery foodstuff, as of dehydrated potatoes, fish, or bananas.
4. a fine, soft powder:
   flour of emery.

v.t. 

5. to make (grain or the like) into flour;
   grind and bolt.
6. Food to sprinkle or dredge with flour:
   Flour the chicken before frying.

v.i. 

7. (of mercury) to refuse to amalgamate with another metal because of some impurity of the metal;
   lie on the surface of the metal in the form of minute globules.
8. to disintegrate into minute particles.

• 1200–50; Middle English; special use of flower. Compare French fleur de farine the flower or finest part of the meal

flour′less, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

flour / ˈflaʊə/ noun

1. a powder, which may be either fine or coarse, prepared by sifting and grinding the meal of a grass, esp wheat
2. any finely powdered substance

verb

1. (transitive) to make (grain) into flour
2. (transitive) to dredge or sprinkle (food or cooking utensils) with flour

Etymology: 13th Century flur finer portion of meal, flower

ˈfloury adjective