Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to collapse, from exhaustion, or an excess of drink or drugs; thus flaked out adj.

1942

1950196019701980199020002010

2015

1942		L. Kennedy Sub-Lieutenant 39: During the week’s [P.T.] course, two of them broke their ankles; the others usually flaked out from exhaustion before the end of the afternoon .
1959		A. Sinclair My Friend Judas (1963) 125: I must have flaked out for a few hours, because the next thing I knew was Jimmy shaking me by the shoulders.
1965		Aus. Women’s Wkly 3 Nov. 10/4: Now that Surfie talk is flaking.
1974–5		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 113: I bunged her an injection and she flaked on me.
1975		J. Roe The Same Old Grind 131: ‘Always flaking out somewhere. Good for nothing, lousy, crippled-up — ’.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 213: She did take your pants off after you’d flaked out again.
1977		(con. 1960s) Nicholson & Smith Spend, Spend, Spend (1978) 154: I can remember one night her flaking out on the couch.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 92: Then she wallops into the hard stuff here an’ flakes out. She’s in bed.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 170: I was out before I took three, four hits. [...] I jus’ close’ my eyes, next thang I know, I done flaked!
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 90: Mick the Muso had flaked out on the toilet seat.
1985		B. Robinson Aussie Bull 23: [T]he Pom staggered down to the beach, flopped on his back beside his wife and ‘flaked’.
1988		A. Hollinghurst Swimming-Pool Library (1998) 223: I did a few ferocious exercises and then flaked out.
1989		M. Walker How to Kiss a Crocodile 89: I turned the key in the door and flaked as soon as I put my head down.
2007		S. Maloney Sucked In 193: We waited until he flaked again, then dragged him into a bedroom and dumped him on the bed.
2010		K. Richards Life 342: This is powerful weed. Funnily enough, I never flaked out.
2014		me-stepmums-too-fuckin-hot-mate at www.fakku.net 🌐 I’m gonna flake out.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 4: [M]en of any age were entitled to flake around the place giving digs to anyone who looked like they might slight them.

2. (US) to recline or lie down, to sleep.

1944

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2000

1944		in Life 17 July 20: Carrier crew men ‘flake out’ on hard deck while planes are far away fighting great air battles [HDAS].
1957		‘Weldon Hill’ Onionhead (1958) 171: ‘Flake out till I come back’.
1963		‘Nino Culotta’ Gone Fishin’ 128: Flake out there on the axminster, an’ throw that Wagga rug over you.
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 42: Do youse reckon I could flake at your dump for the arvo?
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1999		Indep. Rev. 9 Oct. 20: I get home and flake out, completely exhausted.
2000		Indep. Rev. 18 Mar. 20: When I get home, I flake out on the sofa.

3. to go mad; to act eccentrically.

1957

196019701980199020002010

2012

1957		(con. 1943) A. Myrer Big War 167: What did they think held men together [...] kept them from flaking out or cracking up.
1970		(con. 1950s) H. Junker ‘The Fifties’ in Eisen Age of Rock 2 (1970) 100: You only got hung up when somebody flaked out on you.
1980		(con. Vietnam War) A. Santoli Everything We Had 104: The next thing I heard, he was in a psycho ward. He had just sort of flaked out and gone over the edge.
1997		J. Whedon ‘Prophecy Girl’ 2 June episode of TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer in Adams Slayer Sl. (2003) 176: You don’t understand I’m not mad. He totally flaked on me.
2012		T. Robinson ‘Roses at His Feet’ in Dirty Words [ebook] The guy tensed, but didn’t flake.

4. (US) to die.

1969

1969

N. Spinrad Bug Jack Barron 15: Give him a contract for a freeze when he flakes out.

5. (US campus) to astound.

1972

1972

oral testimony in Lighter HDAS I.

6. to fail, to let down.

2005

2005

C. Buzzell My War (2006) 23: The Army even pays for you to spend the night at a hotel [...] to make sure your ass doesn’t flake.

7. (US campus) to fail to keep an appointment or other commitment; usu. as flake out on.

1987

199020002010

2014

1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 18: He can get to the drive-in next week, even if Gus flakes out on him again.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
1992		D. Burke Street Talk 2 17: To flake – to be unreliable. He was supposed to pick me up at the airport but he flaked.
1997		Eble Campus Sl. Fall.
2014		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014.