flitch

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

flitch, n. [OE. flicche, flikke, AS. flicce, akin to Icel. flikki; cf. Icel. flīk flap, tatter; perh. akin to E. fleck. Cf. Flick, n.].

•  The side of a hog salted and cured; a side of bacon.  Swift.  [1913 Webster]
•  One of several planks, smaller timbers, or iron plates, which are secured together, side by side, to make a large girder or built beam.  [1913 Webster]
•  The outside piece of a sawed log; a slab.  [1913 Webster]

flitch, v. t. [See Flitch, n.].

 To cut into, or off in, flitches or strips; as, to flitch logs; to flitch bacon.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

flitch, n.
1 a side of bacon.
2 a slab of timber from a tree-trunk, usu. from the outside.
3 (in full flitch-plate) a strengthening plate in a beam etc.

Idiom

flitch-beam a compound beam, esp. of an iron plate between two slabs of wood.

Etymology

OE flicce f. Gmc