v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flattened p. pr. & vb. n. Flattening. ] [ From Flat, a. ] 1. To reduce to an even surface or one approaching evenness; to make flat; to level; to make plane. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To throw down; to bring to the ground; to prostrate; hence, to depress; to deject; to dispirit. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make vapid or insipid; to render stale. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Mus.) To lower the pitch of; to cause to sound less sharp; to let fall from the pitch. [ 1913 Webster ]

To flatten a sail (Naut.), to set it more nearly fore-and-aft of the vessel. --
Flattening oven, in glass making, a heated chamber in which split glass cylinders are flattened for window glass. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become or grow flat, even, depressed, dull, vapid, spiritless, or depressed below pitch. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. shaped like a thin sheet.
Syn. -- planate. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. (Biol) flattened laterally along the whole length e.g. certain leafstalks or flatfishes.
Syn. -- compressed, flat. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OE. latoun, laton, OF. laton, F. laiton, prob. fr. OF. late lath, F. latte; -- because made in thin plates; cf. It. latta a sheet of tinned iron, tin plate. F. latte is of German origin. See Lath a thin board. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A kind of brass hammered into thin sheets, formerly much used for making church utensils, as candlesticks, crosses, etc.; -- called also latten brass. [ 1913 Webster ]

He had a cross of latoun full of stones. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Sheet tin; iron plate, covered with tin; also, any metal in thin sheets; as, gold latten. [ 1913 Webster ]

Black latten, brass in milled sheets, composed of copper and zinc, used by braziers, and for drawing into wire. --
Roll latten, latten polished on both sides ready for use. --
Shaven latten, a thinner kind than black latten. --
White latten, a mixture of brass and tin. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ See Plat, a. ] (Glass Making) To flatten and make into sheets or plates; as, to platten cylinder glass. [ 1913 Webster ]