"à fleur de" meaning in French

{
  "etymology_text": "From the word fleur, a flower. From Latin florem, originally meaning flower but also 'the best part [of something]', 'the upper part', & finally 'the surface'. It was from the latter sense that the phrase à fleur de arose in the middle of the 14ᵗʰ century to signify 'on the surface of'.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "à fleur de",
      "name": "fr-phrase"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "French",
  "lang_code": "fr",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "French entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "à fleur de coin"
        },
        {
          "word": "à fleur de corde"
        },
        {
          "word": "à fleur d’eau"
        },
        {
          "word": "à fleur de peau"
        },
        {
          "word": "à fleur de tête"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_english_offsets": [
            [
              12,
              23
            ]
          ],
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              23
            ]
          ],
          "english": "All around, at the edge of the rock, tough bushes & gnarled shrubs grew within reach.",
          "ref": "1967, Joseph Kessel, “1 Part 3”, in Les Cavaliers, page 212:",
          "text": "Tout autour, à fleur de roc, buissons durs et arbustes noueux poussaient à portée de la main.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_english_offsets": [
            [
              68,
              80
            ]
          ],
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              74,
              84
            ]
          ],
          "english": "...&, when the granite, that, in these lands, almost always reaches ground-level, does not form a rough sort of pavement, they then become so impassable, that the smallest cart can travel only with the aid of two pairs of oxen & two horses...",
          "ref": "1829, Honoré de Balzac, chapter III, in Les Chouans, page 309:",
          "text": "...et, lorsque le granit, qui, dans ces contrées, arrive presque toujours à fleur de terre, n’y fait pas une espèce de pavé raboteux, ils deviennent alors tellement impraticables, que la moindre charrette ne peut y rouler qu’à l’aide de deux paires de bœufs et de deux chevaux...",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "almost at the level of; on the surface of, on the edge of"
      ],
      "id": "en-à_fleur_de-fr-phrase-j7NP-mf9",
      "links": [
        [
          "level",
          "level"
        ],
        [
          "surface",
          "surface"
        ],
        [
          "edge",
          "edge"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "au niveau de"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/a flœʁ də/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "à fleur de"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "à fleur de coin"
    },
    {
      "word": "à fleur de corde"
    },
    {
      "word": "à fleur d’eau"
    },
    {
      "word": "à fleur de peau"
    },
    {
      "word": "à fleur de tête"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the word fleur, a flower. From Latin florem, originally meaning flower but also 'the best part [of something]', 'the upper part', & finally 'the surface'. It was from the latter sense that the phrase à fleur de arose in the middle of the 14ᵗʰ century to signify 'on the surface of'.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "à fleur de",
      "name": "fr-phrase"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "French",
  "lang_code": "fr",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "French entries with incorrect language header",
        "French lemmas",
        "French multiword terms",
        "French phrases",
        "French terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "French terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_english_offsets": [
            [
              12,
              23
            ]
          ],
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              23
            ]
          ],
          "english": "All around, at the edge of the rock, tough bushes & gnarled shrubs grew within reach.",
          "ref": "1967, Joseph Kessel, “1 Part 3”, in Les Cavaliers, page 212:",
          "text": "Tout autour, à fleur de roc, buissons durs et arbustes noueux poussaient à portée de la main.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_english_offsets": [
            [
              68,
              80
            ]
          ],
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              74,
              84
            ]
          ],
          "english": "...&, when the granite, that, in these lands, almost always reaches ground-level, does not form a rough sort of pavement, they then become so impassable, that the smallest cart can travel only with the aid of two pairs of oxen & two horses...",
          "ref": "1829, Honoré de Balzac, chapter III, in Les Chouans, page 309:",
          "text": "...et, lorsque le granit, qui, dans ces contrées, arrive presque toujours à fleur de terre, n’y fait pas une espèce de pavé raboteux, ils deviennent alors tellement impraticables, que la moindre charrette ne peut y rouler qu’à l’aide de deux paires de bœufs et de deux chevaux...",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "almost at the level of; on the surface of, on the edge of"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "level",
          "level"
        ],
        [
          "surface",
          "surface"
        ],
        [
          "edge",
          "edge"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "au niveau de"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/a flœʁ də/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "à fleur de"
}