flake¹ / flāk/ • n. 1. a small, flat, thin piece of something, typically one that has broken away or been peeled off from a larger piece: paint peeling off the walls in unsightly flakes flakes of pastry. ∎  a snowflake. ∎  Archaeol. a piece of hard stone chipped off for use as a tool by prehistoric humans: [as adj.] flake tools. ∎  thin pieces of crushed dried food or bait for fish.2. inf. a crazy or eccentric person.• v. 1. [intr.] come or fall away from a surface in thin pieces: the paint had been flaking off for years. ∎  lose small fragments from the surface: my nails have started to flake at the ends.2. [tr.] break or divide (food) into thin pieces: flake the fish | [as adj.] (flaked) flaked haddock. ∎  [intr.] (of food, esp. when well cooked) come apart in thin pieces.flake² • n. a rack or shelf for storing or drying food such as fish.flake³ • v. [intr.] (flake out) inf. fall asleep; drop from exhaustion.flake⁴ (also fake / fāk/ ) Naut. • n. a single turn of a coiled rope or hawser.• v. [tr.] lay (a rope) in loose coils in order to prevent it from tangling: a cable had to be flaked out. ∎  lay (a sail) down in folds on either side of the boom.

flake one of the small pieces in which snow falls XIV; piece of ignited matter thrown off XIV; flat or scaly fragment XV. immed. source(s) unkn.; cf. Norw. flak, flāk patch, flake, flake form into flakes, Sw. isflak ice-floe, ON. flakna flake off, split. Cf. FLAW1.
Hence vb. XV.

Flake

a bundle of parallel fibres or threads, 1635.

Examples: flake of ice, 1555.