let the golden goblets go round the benches

(gen. pl. fletja), n. the raised flooring along the side walls of a hall (to sit or lie on) together with the benches thereon. Also in pl.

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n. [cp. Scot. and Engl. flat = a story of a house; Dan. fled in fled-föring; A. S. flett = aula; O. H. G. flazi; Hel. fletti = coenaculum, domus; mod. provinc. Germ. fletz]:— a set of rooms or benches, and hence metaph. the house itself; often in pl., chiefly used in poetry and in law.

1. rooms; flet fagrlig, Vtkv. 6; sitja á fleti fyrir, Hm. 1; ef lengi sitr annars fletjum á, 34; flets strá, rooms strewed with straw, Ls. 46; setjask miðra fletja, to be seated in the middle, Rm. 4; vaxa upp á fletjum, 34; láttu á flet vaða gull-skálir, let the golden goblets go round the benches (as the Engl. loving cup), Akv. 10; stýra fletjum, to dwell, keep house, Helr. 10; bera hrör af fletjum, Scot. to lift and carry a body out of the house, to bury, Stor. 4; um flet ok um bekki, Fas. ii. 164.

2. in law phrases, a house; setja hann niðr bundinn á flet sýslu-manns, to place him bound in the bailiff’s house, Gþl. 147, cp. 534; þá skulu þeir hafa vitni til, ok setja þann mann bundinn á flet hans, N. G. L. i. 162, of compulsory alimentation, cp. Dan. fled-föring; er dóttir hans á fleti, if he has a daughter in the house, 341; ganga á flet ok á borð e-s, to board and lodge with one, D. N. ii. 442.

3. a couch, in the phrase, rísa ór fleti, to rise up from bed, of a lazy fellow, Gullþ. 14; the word agrees with the mod. use of flet, a flat bed on the floor, = flat-sæng.

COMPDS: fletbjörn and fletvargr.