To openly disregard or show contempt for a rule, law, or person; to treat something with scorn or mockery.
From Dutch 'fluiten' meaning to play the flute or to hiss in mockery; entered English in the 1590s; the sense evolved from 'to mock' to 'to deliberately violate rules.'
Sailors and traders brought this Dutch word into English, where it kept its mocking, hissing sound—'flout' sounds almost like you're hissing contempt at something, which is exactly what it means!
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