Noun

(en noun)

An external or internal rib or rim, used either to add strength or to hold something in place.

The projecting edge of a rigid or semi-rigid component.

(gaming) An ability in a role-playing game which is not commonly available, overpowered or arbitrarily imposed by the referees.

* 1998:' Mr MI Pennington, ''Can the Players be Trusted?'' on rec.games.frp.live-action [The] enduring problem with the Gathering is that [players can't affect anything that happens ... whatever they do, the LT just ' flange it back to the original plot line.

* 2007:' balor, ''Changing the metaphysics'' on Rule 7 [http://forums.rule7.co.uk/Topic28357-44-2.aspx] 'Oh look , the amulet of ' flange has been activated, this means all Paladins now only have one heal per day instead of two.'

A vulva.

* 2001:' tedfat, '''''Flange !!!! in alt.society.nottingham [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.society.nottingham/browse_thread/thread/7d1653d74a6ac61b/4fdf1b47e3e1bb70?lnk=st&q=%22her+flange%22&rnum=9&hl=en#4fdf1b47e3e1bb70]

I was in bed the other day with the missus and I asked to see her flange . Imagine my surprise when she got up went downstairs to my toolbox and brought me up a metal looking object called a flange!!!!! Needless to say when she asked to see my nuts the next time I obliged by doing exactly the same as her.

* 2003: Ray Gordon, Hot Sheets [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1562013920&id=c4hY8RgKlGgC&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=flange+fuck&sig=8rlmxhjFq0jxtxQ_cW333gA5u5Q&hl=en]

'God, she's got a tight flange !' the plumber gasped, splaying the girl's buttocks and focusing on her O-ring.

(rare, humorous) The collective noun for a group of baboons.

* 2006 , Rick Crosier - Getting Away with Murder

(I suspect they hired a flange of baboons to mind the house.)

Noun

(en-noun)

Specter, apparition.

A range; a continuous, infinite, one-dimensional set, possibly bounded by extremes.

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times citation

, passage=As Mr. Obama prepared to take the oath, his approval rating touched a remarkable 70 percent in some polling — a reflection of good will across the political spectrum .}}

Specifically, a range of colours representing light (electromagnetic radiation) of contiguous frequencies; hence electromagnetic spectrum, visible spectrum, ultraviolet spectrum, etc.

* 2010 October 30, Jim Giles, Jammed!'', in '' ,

Current 3G technologies can send roughly 1 bit of data - a one or a zero - per second over each 1 Hz of spectrum that the operator owns.

(chemistry) The pattern of absorption or emission of radiation produced by a substance when subjected to energy (radiation, heat, electricity, etc.).

(mathematics, linear algebra) The set of eigenvalues of a matrix.

(mathematics, functional analysis) Of a bounded linear operator A'', the set of scalar values ? such that the operator ''A—?I'', where ''I denotes the identity operator, does not have a bounded inverse; intended as a generalisation of the linear algebra sense.