Chapter II: Part 2

1593. Nashe, Christ’s Teares, in wks. (Grosart) IV. 140. Tell me
(almost) what gentleman hath been cast away at sea, or disasterly
souldiourizd it by lande, but they (usurers) have enforst him
thereunto by their fleecing.

1598. Shakspeare, I King Henry IV., ii., 2. Down with them: fleece
them!

1620. Dekker, His Dreame, in wks. (Grosart) III. 52. Catchpolles,
and varlets, who did poore men fleece (To their undoing) for a
twelve-peny peece.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. IV., ch. ii. When a poor
man has almost undone himself for thy sake, thou art for fleecing
him.

1822. Scott, Fort. of Nigel, ch. xxiii. He is now squeezed and
fleeced by them on every pretence.

1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 106. He was stabbed by the
Ragamuffin he had fleeced.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xxxi. Bloundell is a professional
blackleg, and travels the Continent, where he picks up young
gentlemen of fashion and fleeces them.

1859. Times, 25 Oct. ‘Review of Dean Ramsay’s Reminiscences.’ I
don’t know whether they are black or white sheep, but I know that
if they are long there they are pretty certain to be fleeced.

1891. Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette, 16 Jan. How you would be
fleeced! You’ve got a lot to learn yet.

Hence fleeced = ruined; dead-broke (q.v. for synonyms).

Fleecer, subs. (old).—A thief.

1600–69. Prynne, Breviate. Not fleecers, but feeders.

Fleece-Hunter, or -Monger, subs. phr. (venery).—A whore-master. For synonyms, see Molrower.

Fleeter-Face, subs. (old).—A pale-face; a coward. Cf., Shakspeare’s ‘cream-faced loon.’

1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, Queen of Corinth. You know where you
are, you fleeter-face.

Fleet-Note, subs. (old).—A forged note.

1821. Real Life in London.

Fleet of the Desert, subs. phr. (common).—A caravan; cf., ship of the desert = camel.

Fleet-Street, subs. phr. (colloquial).—The estate of journalism, especially journalism of the baser sort.

Fleet-Streeter, subs. (colloquial).—A journalist of the baser sort; a spunging prophet (q.v.); a sharking dramatic critic; a spicy (q.v.) paragraphist; and so on.

Fleet-Streetese, subs. phr. (colloquial).—The so-called English, written to sell by the Fleet-Streeter (q.v.), or baser sort of journalist: a mixture of sesquipedalians and slang, of phrases worn threadbare and phrases sprung from the kennel; of bad grammar and worse manners; the like of which is impossible outside Fleet-Street (q.v.), but which in Fleet-Street commands a price, and enables not a few to live.

Fleg, verb. (old).—To whip. Bailey.

Flemish Account, subs. phr. (old).—A remittance less than was expected; hence, an unsatisfactory account. [Among the Flemings (the merchants of Western Europe when commerce was young) accounts were kept in livres, sols, and pence; but the livre or pound only = 12s., so that what the Antwerp merchant called one livre thirteen and fourpence would in English currency be only 20s.]

1668. T. Brown, The Accurate Accomptant, etc. Quoted in N. and Q.
1. S. I., 286. London, August 10th, 1668. To Roger Pace, Factor,
etc., for 10 pieces cont. 746 Ells Fl. at 10s. Flem. per Ell is
£373 Flem. Exchange at 35s. makes Sterling Money £213 2s. 10d.

1774–1826. Typ. Antiq., p. 1773. A person resident in London is
said to have had most of Caxton’s publications. He sent them to
Amsterdam for inspection, and on writing for them was informed that
they had been destroyed by accident. ‘I am very much afraid,’ says
Herbert, ‘my kind friend received but a Flemish account of his
Caxton’s.’

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tong. Flemish account, a losing or bad
account.

Flesh, subs. (old).—Generic for the organs of generation, male or female. Also (of women) Fleshly-part.

1604. Shakspeare, Winter’s Tale, iv., 3. She would not exchange
flesh with one that loved her.

1605. Cymbeline, i., 5. If you buy ladies’ flesh at a million a
dram you cannot preserve it from tainting.

1620. Percy, Folio MSS. [Hales & Furnivall, 1867]. ‘As I was
ridinge by the way.’ Sweet hart, shall I put my flesh in thine?

Flesh, verb., or, Flesh It; or, to be fleshed in (venery).—To have carnal knowledge of—to be ‘one flesh with’—a woman. [For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.] An equivalent in the passive sense is to feel his flesh in one’s body (said by women only).

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, Andar in Carnafau. To go a
fleshing or a wenching: (Carnafau = the brat-getting place; the
hole of content).

Flesh and Blood, subs. phr. (common).—Brandy and port in equal proportions. See Drinks.

Flesh-bag, subs. (common).—A shirt or chemise.

English Synonyms.—Biled rag (American); camesa; carrion-case; commission; dickey (formerly a worn-out shirt); gad (gipsy); lully; mill tog; mish; narp (Scots’); shaker; shimmy (= a chemise, Marryat); smish.

French Synonyms.—Une liquette or limace (thieves’: from the Gypsy. The form also occurs also in the Italian lima); un panais (popular).

German Synonyms.—Kamis, Kamsel, Kemsel, or Gemsel (from med. Lat., Camisiale; Fr. camisole); Kesones, Kusones, or Ksones (also = cotton and underclothing); Staude or Stauden; Hanfstandt (Liber Vagatorum: literally hempshrub).

Italian Synonym.—Lima (see Fr., limace).

1820. London Magazine; i., 29. They are often without a flesh-bag
to their backs.

Flesh-broker, subs. (old).—1. A match-maker.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Flesh-broker, a
match-maker; also a bawd; between whom but little difference, for
they both (usually) take money.

2. A procuress [Grose]. Cf., Flesh-fly, Flesh-monger, and Flesh-market. For synonyms, see Mother.

Flesh-fly (also, Flesh-maggot), subs. (old).—A whoremaster. For synonyms, see Molrower.

1781. Cowper, Progress of Error, 323–324. Oh! that a verse had
power, and could command far, Far away, these flesh-flies of the
land.

Flesh-market, or Flesh-shambles, subs. (common).—A brothel or flash-house (q.v.); also the pavement, in Piccadilly or Regent-street, for instance, where whores do congregate. Cf., Meatmarket.

1608. John Day, Humour out of Breath, II. I Asp. ... She may bee
well discended; if shee be, Shee’s fit for love, and why not then
for me. Boy. And you be not fitted in Venice ’tis straunge, for
’tis counted the best flesh-shambles in Italie.

Flesh-monger, subs. (old).—A procurer; a whore-master. [From Eng. Flesh + monger]. For synonyms, see Mother and Molrower. Cf., Flesh-fly, Flesh-market, and Flesh-broker.

1603. Shakspeare, Measure for Measure, V., 1. And was the duke a
flesh-monger, a fool, and a coward, as you then reported him to be?

Fleshmongering. To go flesh-mongering, verb. phr. (venery).—To quest for women; to go on the prowl (q.v.)., or after meat. See Greens and Ride.

Flesh-pot. Sighing for the flesh-pots of Egypt. phr. (common).—Hankering for good things no longer at command. [Biblical].

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 131. Do you think it is
a hankering after the flesh-pots, and that the canon’s cook
reconciles me to the canon’s opinions?

Flesh-tailor, subs. (old).—A surgeon. For synonyms, see Sawbones.

1633. Ford, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, iii. Oh, help! help! help! Oh,
for a flesh-tailor quickly.

Fleshy, subs. (Winchester College).—See Cat’s Head.

Fletch, subs. (prison). A spurious coin. Cf., Flatch.

Flick, or Flig, subs. (colloquial).—1. A cut with a whip-lash; hence, a blow of any sort. A flicking is often administered by schoolboys with a damp towel or pocket-handkerchief. For synonyms, see tanning.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. VI., ch. ii. ‘I do know you are a
woman,’ cries the squire, ‘and it’s well for thee, that art one; if
had’st been a man, I promise thee I had lent thee a flick long
ago.’

1787. Grose, Provincial Glossary, s.v. vlick.

2. (common).—A jocular salutation; usually old flick. Cf., Codger and My Tulip.

1883. Punch, 28 July, p. 38, col. 1. Well, last night, They’d a
feet in these gardens, old flick, as was something too awfully
quite.

Verb. (thieves’).—1. To cut.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Flicking, c., to cut,
cutting.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict. (flick is given as a ‘country word’).

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Flick me some pannam and cassan,
cut me some bread and cheese; flick the peter, cut off the cloak
bag or portmanteau.

1791. Carew, Life and Adventures, q.v.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, ch. xiv. Flick the bread, cut the bread.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v. Flick the Peter
and rake the swag for I want to pad my beaters.

2. (colloquial).—To strike with, or as with, a whip.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xliii. Near him, leaning listlessly
against the wall, stood a strong-built countryman, flicking with a
worn-out hunting whip the top-boot that adorned his right foot.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxvii. Who ... receives this
compliment by flicking Mr. George in the face with a head of
greens.

1854. Our Cruise in the Undine, p. 103. It appeared to us that one
of the most frequent, and therefore we supposed the principal
stroke aimed at (in a Heidelberg duel), was to strike your sword
low down, perhaps four inches from the handle, upon your
adversary’s bandaged arm, so that the end of the weapon (the only
part that is sharpened) should Flick itself against your opponent’s
face.

1863. Hon. Mrs. Norton, Lost and Saved, p. 29. Drivers shouting,
swearing, and flicking at the horses.

Flicker, subs. (Old Cant).—A drinking glass.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Flicker, c., a
drinking-glass; Flicker snapt, c., the glass is broken; Nim the
flicker, c., steal the glass; Rum flicker, c., a large glass or
rummer; Queer flicker, c., a green or ordinary glass.

French Synonyms.—Une lampe (masons’); un guindal (popular); un godet (very old); une gobette (thieves’); un gobeson (thieves’).

Verb. 1. To drink.—Matsell.

2. (old).—To laugh wantonly; also to kiss, or lewdly fondle a woman.—Palsgrave. For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v. Flicker, to grin
or flout.

Also Flicking = (1) drinking, and (2) wanton laughter.

Let her flicker, phr. (American).—Said of any doubtful issue: ‘let the matter take its chance.’

Flicket-a-Flacket, adv. (old).—Onomatopoetic for a noise of flapping and flicking.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 20. Their bellies went
flicket-a-flacket.

Flier or Flyer, subs. (racing and yachting).—1. A horse or boat of great speed; also (American railway) a fast train; hence, by implication, anything of excellence. Cf., Dasher, Daisy, etc. Also adj., = keen for.

1865. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch. xxii. The mare’s in splendid
condition; well, you saw her take her trial gallop the other
morning, and you must know she’s a flier, so I won’t talk about
her.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 156. Atalanta might be
a flyer, but an artist like Pycroft, with a clever colt like
Newsmonger under him, was quite likely to outride whatever boy Mr.
Pipes might now be able to pick up.

1888. St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 2 Mar. In spite of the strike
passenger trains, what are known as the flyers, are running with
reasonable regularity.

1890. Bird o’ Freedom, 19 Mar., p. 1, col. 1. Clearly the G.O.M. is
no flier over this course.

1891. Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette, 20 Mar. Although he may
doubtless be made a good deal better he may turn out to be no
flier.

1891. Bury and Hillier, Cycling, p. 6. A moderate rider, not being
an athlete or a flier ... can ... get over in an hour seven or
eight miles of ground on a tricycle.

1891. Anti-Jacobin, 23 May, p. 400. When Dangerous,
Plenipotentiary, Bay Middleton, and other flyers ran.

1891. Morning Advertiser, 28 Mar. In any event, he was never a
flyer at breakfast. But late at night, and when, perhaps, he
tumbled across something equivalent to woodcock, tripe and onions,
or a hot lobster, say, why then, take my word for it, he made up
for previous abstinence.

1891. National Observer, 1 Aug. It remains to be seen whether large
yachts constructed on the same principle will be equally
invincible: that is, if the flyers we have are one and all to
disappear.

2. (football).—A shot in the air. See Made-flyer.

3. (American).—A small hand-bill; a Dodger (q.v.).

To take a flier (American trade).—1. To make a venture; to invest against odds.

2. (venery).—To copulate in haste (Grose); to do a Fast-fuck (q.v.).

Flies, subs. (rhyming).—Lies. Hence, nonsense; trickery; deceit.

There are no flies on me, on him, etc., phr. (common).—‘I am dealing honestly with you;’ ‘he is genuine, and is not humbugging.’ In America, the expression is used of (1) a man of quick parts, a man who ‘knows a thing without its being kicked into him by a mule’; and (2) a person of superior breeding or descent. Sometimes the phrase is corrupted into ‘no fleas.’ See Gammon.

1868. Diprose, St. Clement Danes, Past and Present. To Deaf Burke,
the celebrated pugilist, is attributed the old story of the ‘flies
and the gin and water;’ and hence the term ‘no flies’ became
prevalent. Burke had ordered ... some ‘hot and strong and a dash of
lemon.’ The goblet was brought ... Burke raised ... the nectar to
his lips, and beheld some dissipated flies lying at the bottom of
the tumbler; he placed the glass on the table, and deliberately
removed the flies with the spoon, five or six in number, and laid
them side by side before him, and then giving a hearty pull at the
gin and water, he as deliberately replaced the flies ... and passed
it to his friend. His companion stared angrily. ‘Do you dare to
insult me, and in the presence of company?’ said the irate
vis-à-vis. ‘Pardon me,’ replied Burke, quietly handing the glass a
second time, ‘though I don’t drink flies myself, I didn’t know but
what others might.’

1888. Detroit Free Press, 25 Aug. There ain’t no flies on him,
signifies, that he is not quiet long enough for moss to grow on his
heels, that he is wide awake.

1888. Missouri Republican, 24 Feb. People who are capable of
descending to New York and Boston English are fully justified in
saying that there are no flies on St. Louis or the St. Louis
delegation either.

Fligger (also Flicker), verb. (old).—To grin.

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 267. He fliggered, and told me for
all my brave alls He would have a stroke.

Flim.—See Flimsy.

Flim-flam, subs. (old).—An idle story; a sham; a Robin Hood tale (q.v.). A duplication of Flam (q.v.).

1589. Pappe with an Hatchet (ed. 1844) p. 39. Trusse up thy packet
of flim-flams, and roage to some countrey faire, or read it among
boyes in the belfrie.

1630. Taylor, Workes. They with a courtly tricke, or a flim-flam,
do nod at me, whilst I the noddy am.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XVIII., ch. xii. I thought thou
had’st been a lad of higher mettle than to give way to a parcel of
maidenish tricks. I tell thee ’tis all flim-flam.

1780. Mrs. Cowley, The Belle’s Stratagem, iii., 1. Mr. Curate,
don’t think to come over me with your flim-flams, for a better man
than ever trod in your shoes is coming over-sea to marry me.

1805. Isaac Disraeli, Flim-flams; or the Life and Errors of my
Uncle, and the Amours of my Aunt [title].

1825. C. Lamb, Munden (in London Magazine) Feb. I wonder you can
put such flim-flams upon us, sir.

Adj. (old).—Idle; worthless.

1589. Nashe, Month’s Minde, in wks. Vol. I., p. 174. But to leaue
thy flim-flam tales and loytering lies.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Filastroccola, flim-flam tales,
old wiues tales as they tell when they spinne, a tale without rime
or reason, or head or foote.

1633. T. Newton, Lennie’s Touch-stone of Complexions, p. 120.
Reporting a flim-flam tale of Robin Hood.

1750. Ozell’s Rabelais, vol. V., p. 247. Glibly swallow down every
flim-flam story that’s told them.

1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. X., ch. xix. I wish you’d mind the
child—it is crumpling up and playing almighty smash with that
flim-flam book, which cost me one pound one.

Flimp, verb. (thieves’)—1. To hustle or rob. To put on the flimp = to rob on the highway. For synonyms, see Crack and Prig.

1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, p. 111. To take a
man’s watch is to flimp him, it can only be done in a crowd, one
gets behind and pushes him in the back, while the other in front is
robbing him.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 445, s.v.

2. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Ride.

Flimping, subs. (thieves’).—Stealing from the person.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, p. 38. He told me as
Bill had flimped a yack.

1862. Cornhill Mag., vol. vi., p. 651. We are going a-flimping,
buzzing, cracking, etc.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. lx. Flimping is a style of theft
which I have never practised, and, consequently of which I know
nothing.

Flimsy, or Flim, subs. (common).—1. A bank-note. [From the thinness of the paper.] Soft-flimsy = a note drawn on ‘The Bank of Elegance,’ or ‘The Bank of Engraving.’ For synonyms, see Soft.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, iv., 443. Martin produced some flimsies and
said he would fight on Tuesday next.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (‘Merchant of Venice’). Not
‘kites,’ manufactured to cheat and inveigle, But the right sort of
‘flimsy,’ all sign’d, by Monteagle.

1855. Punch, XXIX., 10. ‘Will you take it in flimsies, or will you
have it all in tin?’

1870. Chambers’ Journal, 9 July, p. 448. ‘What would it be worth?’
‘A flim, Sam.’

1884. Daily Telegraph, 8 Apl., col. 3. One of the slang terms for a
spurious bank-note is a soft-flimsy.

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 149. Next morning when I went to the
bank to collect the swag, they stopped the flimsy, and had me
arrested before I could look round.

2. (journalists’).—News of all kinds; points (q.v.). [From the thin prepared paper used by pressmen for making several copies at once]. First used at Lloyd’s.

1861. Cornhill Magazine, iv., 199 ‘At Westminster,’ my lord is
neither a mumbling nor a short-tempered judge; he will ... read
them a great deal of his notes, which are a thousand-fold clearer,
fuller, and more accurate than the reporter’s flimsy.

1865. Morning Star (‘The Flaneur’). A London correspondent, who, by
the aid of flimsy misleads a vast number of provincial papers.

1870. London Figaro, 23 Sept. ‘Special Lining.’ We do not think it
is altogether worthy of the high repute of the Pall Mall Gazette to
publish flimsy as a special correspondence.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xviii. The sharpest of
the reporters had his flimsy up in a minute, and took notes of the
proceedings.

Flinders, subs. (common).—Pieces infinitesimally small.

1870. New York Evening Sun, 24 May. Report of Speech of Mr.
Chandler. Let us knock the British crown to flinders; let us
arrange for some one or two hundred thousand British graves
forthwith, and cabbage the whole boundless continent without any
further procrastination.

Fling, subs. (colloquial).—1. A fit of temper.

2. (common).—A jeer; a jibe; a personal allusion or attack.

1592. Shakspeare, I Henry VI., iii., 1. Then would I have a fling
at Winchester.

1888. Star, 10 Oct. Those writers who had a fling at Iddesleigh
after his poor running at Stockton will have to take their words
back some day.

1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 24 July, p. 4. col. 2. As the disputants
warmed up, little personal flings were of course introduced.

Verb (old).—1. To cheat; to get the best of; to do (q.v.) or diddle.—Grose.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xxi. Flung the governor out of a
guinea.

2. (Scots).—To dance.

1790. Burns, Tam O’ Shanter. To tell how Maggie lapt and flang (A
souple jaud she was, and strang).

3. (venery).—To move in the act; to back-up (q.v.). Fr., ‘frizer la queue = to wriggle the tayle (in leachering).’—Cotgrave.

1539. David Lyndsay, Three Estaitis, Works (Ed. Laing, Edinburgh,
1879). I traist sche sal find you flinging your fill.

To Fling Out, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To depart in a hurry, and, especially, in a temper.

To fling (or flap) it in one’s face, verb. phr. (prostitutes’).—To expose the person.

In a fling, adv. phr. (colloquial).—In a spasm of temper.

To have one’s fling, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To enjoy full liberty of action or conduct. Cf., High Old Time.

1624. Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife, &c., iii., 5. I’ll have a
fling.

1846–8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. xiii. Hang it; the regiment’s
just back from the West Indies, I must have a little fling, and
then when I’m married I’ll reform.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, II., 118. I don’t want to marry until I
have had my fling, you know.

1880. Gilbert, Pirates of Penzance. Peers will be peers, And youth
will have his fling.

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 253. If policy (police) show up,
then you let me have my fling, eh?

To fling dirt.—See dirt.

Flinger, subs. (Scots).—A dancer.

1821. Scott, Pirate, ch. ix. That’s as muckle as to say, that I
suld hae minded you was a flinger and a fiddler yoursel’, Maister
Mordaunt.

Fling-Dust, subs. (old).—A street-walker. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

Flint, subs. (workmen’s). A man working for a ‘Union’ or ‘fair’ house; non-Unionists are dung (q.v.). Both terms occur in Foote’s burlesque, The Tailors: a Tragedy for Warm Weather, and they received a fresh lease of popularity during the tailors’ strike of 1832. See quots. Cf., Scab Soc, Snob, Snob-stick, and Knobstick.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, flints, journeyman taylors who, on
a late occasion, refused to work for the wages settled by law.
Those who submitted were by the mutineers stiled dungs, i.e.,
dunghills.

1832. P. Egan, Book of Sports, p. 34. Jack Reeve is without a
rival; the throne of the flints is decidedly freehold property to
him.

1834. Noctes Amb., xxxiv., vol. IV., p. 83. (The company is
discussing the tailors’ strike). Tickler. The flints flash fire,
and the day of the dungs is gone.

Old flint, subs. phr. (common). A miser: one who would ‘skin a flint,’ i.e., stoop to any meanness for a trifle.

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. vii., p. 34. It’s equally
plain that the money which the old flint—rot him—first taught me to
expect that I should share with her at his death, will all be hers.

To fix one’s flint. See Fix.

To flint in, verb. phr. (American). To act with energy; not to stand on ceremony; to pitch into; to tackle. A verb of action well-nigh as common as fix (q.v.).

Flip, subs. (common).—1. Hot beer, brandy, and sugar; also, says Grose, called Sir Cloudesley after Sir Cloudesley Shovel. See Drinks.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. flip, Sea Drink, of
small beer (chiefly) and brandy, sweetened and spiced upon
occasion.

1690. Ward, London Spy, part II., p. 41. After the drinking a Kan
of Phlip or a Bowl of Punch.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. 4, p. 8. So have I
seen on board of ship, Some knawing beeff, some spewing flip.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxiv. He ... sent for a can of
beer, of which he made excellent flip to crown the banquet.

1810. Crabbe, The Borough, Letter 16. Nay, with the seamen working
in the ship, At their request, he’d share the grog and flip.

1875. C. D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 18. It was thought best to
heat the poker red-hot before plunging it into the mugs of flip.

2. (popular).—A bribe or douceur.

3. (common).—A light blow, or snatch.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 23. Barney made a very unceremonious flip
at the bit.

Verb (thieves’).—To shoot.

1819. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood (ed. 1864), p. 273. Flip him, Dick; fire,
or I’m taken.

To flip up, verb. phr. (American).—To spin a coin.

1879. New York Tribune, 4 Oct. The two great men could flip up to
see which should have the second place.

Flip-Flap, subs. 1 (old).—A flighty creature.

1702. Vanbrugh, False Friend. 1. The light airy flip-flap, she
kills him with her motions.

2. (popular). A step-dance; a cellar-flap (q.v.). Also (acrobats’); a kind of somersault, in which the performer throws himself over on his hands and feet alternately.

1727. Gay, Fables, ‘Two Monkies.’ The tumbler whirls the flip-flap
round. With sommersets he shakes the ground.

1872. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. There ain’t nothing you
can’t do, Morty, from Shylock to a flip-flap.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 12 Nov., p. 6, col. 2. There were the
clowns who danced, turned somersaults, flip-flaps, and contorted
themselves.

3. (American). A kind of tea-cake.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xviii. The first
evening I took tea with Mrs. Scrimmager. ‘It must be more than a
mite lonely for you,’ she said, as we sat over her dough-nuts and
flip-flaps.

4. (nautical). The arm. For synonyms, see Bender.

5. (venery). The penis.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I., 20. I might have cleft her water-gap
And joined it close with my flip-flap.

Flipper, subs. (nautical and common). 1. The hand. Tip us your flipper = give me your hand. [From the flipper or paddle of a turtle.] For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Lay of St. Gengulphus.’ With
those great sugar-nippers they nipp’d off his flippers, As the
clerk, very flippantly, termed his fists.

1884. Punch, 11 Oct. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic.’ Old Bluebottle
tipped me his flipper, and ’oped I’d ‘refreshed,’ and all that.

2. (common). See Flapper.

3. (theatrical). Part of a scene, hinged and painted on both sides, used in trick changes.

Flirtatious, adj. (American).—Flighty.

1881, W. D. Howells, D. Breen’s Practice, ch. i., “Oh, you needn’t
look after her, Mr. Libby! There’s nothing flirtatious about
Grace,” said Mrs. Maynard.

Flirt-gill, Flirtgillian, or Gill-flirt, subs. (old). A wanton; a chopping girl (q.v.); specifically a strumpet. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. Scurvy knave! I am none
of his flirt-gills.

1713. Guardian, No. 26. We are invested with a parcel of
flirt-gills, who are not capable of being mothers of brave men.

1729. Gay, Polly, ii. 4. While a man is grappling with these
gill-flirts, pardon the expression, Captain, he runs his reason
aground.

1822. Scott, Fort. of Nigel, ch. v. She is a dutiful girl to her
god-father, though I sometimes call her a jill-flirt.

Flirtina Cop-all, subs. phr. (common). A wanton, young or old; a men’s woman (q.v.).

Float, subs. (theatrical).—The footlights: before the invention of gas they were oil-pans with floating wicks. Cf., Ark-floater.

1886. Saturday Review, 24 July, p. 108. To an actor the float is
not what it is to a fisherman.

1889. Answers, 8 June, p. 24. He slapped me on the back, put me in
a hansom, and cried, ‘We’ll have you behind the float (footlights)
in a week.’

If that’s the way the stick floats. See Stick.

Floater, subs. (Stock Exchange).—An Exchequer bill; applied also to other unfunded stock.

1871. Temple Bar, XXXI., 320. On the Stock Exchange, where slang
abounds, floaters is a term which would puzzle outsiders. Floaters
are Exchequer bills and their unfunded stock.

2. (common).—A suet dumpling in soup.

3. (political).—A vendible voter.

1883. Graphic, 17 Mar., p. 279, col. 3. ‘How many voters are
there?’ asked a candidate in one of these pure-blooded Yankee
townships. ‘Four hundred.’ ‘And how many floaters, i.e.,
purchasable?’ ‘Four hundred.’

1888. New York Herald, 4 Nov. The Building Materials Exchange
people were in line to the number of about 200, with a band, and
were followed by a sixteen-horse stage of the ‘Long Tom’ shape
containing a lot of floaters and some fifers and drummers.

4. (Western American).—A candidate representing several counties, and therefore not considered directly responsible to any one of them.

1853. Texas State Gazette, 16 July. J. W. Lawrence, Esq., requests
us to withdraw his name as a candidate for floater in the district
composed of the counties of Fayette, Bastrop, and Travis.

5. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Floating Academy, subs. phr. (old).—The hulks; also Campbell’s academy (q.v.), and floating hell (q.v.). For synonyms, see Cage.

Floating Batteries, subs. phr. (military).—1. Broken bread in tea; also slingers (q.v.).

2. (American).—The Confederate bread rations during the Secession.

Floating Coffin, subs. phr. (nautical).—A rotten ship.

Floating Hell, or Hell Afloat, subs. phr. (nautical).—A ship commanded by (1) a brutal savage, or (2) a ruthless disciplinarian. See also Floating Academy.

Flock, subs. (colloquial).—A clergyman’s congregation. Also any body of people with a common haunt or interest: e.g., a family of children, a company of soldiers, a school of girls or boys, ‘a cabful of molls,’ and such like.

To fire into the wrong flock, verb. phr. (American pioneers’).—To blunder. A variant is to bark up the wrong tree.

1858. New York Herald, 9 Nov. When Mr. Saulsbury rose and called
the Speaker’s attention to the alleged blunder in the Secretary’s
report, his own friends jumped up in great excitement and pulled
him down; he soon found out that he had fired into the wrong flock.

Flock of Sheep, subs. phr.—1. (gaming). A hand at dominoes set out on the table.

2. (colloquial).—White waves on the sea: White horses (q.v.).

Flog, subs. (American thieves’).—1. A whip. A contraction of Flogger (q.v.). To flog (now recognised), is cited by B. E. (1690), Grose, and the author of Bacchus and Venus as Cant.

To be flogged at the tumbler, verb. phr. (old).—To be whipped at the cart’s tail. See Tumbler.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew.

To flog the dead horse, verb. phr. (common).—1. To work up an interest in a bygone subject; to try against heart; to do with no will nor liking for the job. [Bright said that Earl Russell’s Reform Bill was a dead horse (q.v.), and every attempt to create enthusiasm in its favour was flogging the dead horse.]

2. (nautical).—To work off an advance of wages.

To flog a willing horse, verb. phr. (common).—To urge on one who is already putting forth his best energies.

Flogger, subs. (old).—1. A whip; cf., Flog. Grose gives the word as Cant. Fr., un bouis.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 173, s.v.

2. (theatrical).—A mop (i.e., a bunch of slips of cloth on a handle) used in the painting room to whisk the charcoal dust from a sketch.

Flogging, ppl. adj. (old).—Careful; penurious.

Flogging-cove, subs. phr. (prison)—1. An official who administers the cat (q.v.).

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Flogging cove, c. the
Beadle, or Whipper in Bridewell, or any such place.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Flogging-cove, the beadle, or
whipper, in Bridewell.

2. See Flogging Cully.

Flogging Cully, subs. phr. (venery).—A man addicted, whether from necessity or choice, to flagellation; a whipster (q.v.).

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Flogging, c. a Naked
Woman’s whipping (with rods) an Old (usually) and (sometimes) a
young Lecher.

Flogging Stake, subs. phr. (old).—A whipping post.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Flogster, subs. (old).—One addicted to flogging. Specifically (naval), a nickname applied to the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV).

Floor, verb. (colloquial).—1. To knock down. Hence to vanquish in argument; to make an end of; to defeat; to confound. See Floored and Dead-beat.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Floor the pig, knock down the
officer.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 15. That moment the farmer let fly at the
drover, which floored him.

1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. xxi. ‘When I saw him so
floored as not to be able to come to time, I knew there had been
some hard hitting going on thereabouts, so I kept clear.’

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 10. Then (apostrophising ‘Maga’)
floor me not. Ibid., p. 60, The Corinthian, being no novice in
these matters, floored two or three in a twinkling.

1835. Coleridge, Table Talk (published posthumously). The other day
I was what you may called floored by a Jew.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 425 (Ed. 1857). Even Mr. Bob
Sawyer ... was floored.

1862. Mrs. H. Wood, The Channings, ch. v. ‘So if the master is
directing his suspicions to the seniors, he’ll get floored.’

1870. L. Oliphant, Piccadilly, Pt. V., p. 196. ‘Whenever the mammas
object to asking her on account of that horrid Lady Wylde,’ I floor
all opposition by saying, ‘Oh, Lady Jane Helter will bring her.’

1888. Sportsman, 28 Nov. Pope, who was the fresher, started at a
terrific pace and drove his man all over the ring, ending by
flooring him.

To floor the odds (betting men’s).—Said of a low-priced horse that pulls off the event in face of the betting.

1882. Daily Telegraph, 16 Nov. The odds were, nevertheless, floored
from an unexpected quarter.

1889. Echo, 24 Jan. As the odds betted on Miss Jessie II. were
easily floored by Marsden.

2. (drunkards’).—To finish; to get outside of. E.g., ‘I floored three half-pints and a nip before breakfast.’

1837. Punch, 31 Jan. Dear Bill, this stone jug.... Is still the
same snug, Free-and-easy old hole, Where Macheath met his blowens,
and Wylde floored his bowl.

18(?). Macmillan’s Magazine (quoted in Century Dict.). I have a few
bottles of old wine left: we may as well floor them.

3. (university).—To pluck; to plough (q.v.).

To floor a paper, lesson, examination, examiner, etc., verb. phr. (university).—To answer every question; to master; to prove oneself superior to the occasion.

1852. Bristed, Five Years in an English University, p. 12. Somehow
I nearly floored the paper.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford. I’ve floored my Little Go.

To floor one’s licks, verb. phr. (common).—To surpass one’s self; to cut-around (q.v.).

1844. Puck, p. 14. Now slowly rising, raised his pewter and floored
his licks.

To have, hold, or take the floor, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To rise to address a public meeting; in Ireland, to stand up to dance; and, in America, ‘to be in possession of the House.’

1882. McCabe, New York, xxi., p. 342. A member making a bid below
or an offer above the one which has the floor.

1888. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. After a half hour’s recess Mr.
Glover took the floor.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 11 Nov., p. 6, col. 1. The Duke of
Rutland, however, who ‘took the floor’ non-politically at the end
of the evening, was really ‘felicitous’ in his few remarks.

Floored, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—1. Vanquished; brought under; ruined. For synonyms, see Dead-beat and infra.

English Synonyms.—Basketted; bitched; bitched-up; bowled out; broken up; buggered up; busted; caved in; choked-off; cornered; cooked; coopered up; dead-beat; done brown; done for; done on toast; doubled up; flattened-out; fluffed; flummoxed; frummagemmed; gapped; gone through St. Peter’s needle; gone under; gravelled; gruelled; hoofed out; in the last of pea-time, or last run of shad; jacked-up; knocked out of time; knocked silly; looed; mucked-out; petered out; pocketed; potted; put in his little bed; queered in his pitch; rantanned; sat upon; sewn up; shut-up; smashed to smithereens; snashed; snuffed out; spread-eagled; struck of a heap; stumped; tied up; timbered; treed; trumped; up a tree.

French Synonyms.—Mon linge est lavé (pop.: = I have thrown up the sponge); coller sous bande (= to put in a hole: at billiards, bande = cushion); avoir son affaire (pop: = to have got a ‘settler’); aplatir (fam: = to flatten out); aplomber (thieves’: = to brazen down; to bluff); être pris dans la balancine (pop.: = to be in a fix); se faire coller (familiar); envoyer quelqu’un s’asseoir, or s’asseoir sur quelqu’un (popular).

Italian Synonym.—Traboccare (= to overturn).

Spanish Synonyms.—Pesado (doubled-up: from peso = weight); aculado (from acular = to corner); arrollar (= to sweep away, as a torrent); aturrullar (= to shut up); cogite! (= ‘I’ve got you.’ or, ‘there I have you!’)

2. (common).—Drunk; in Shakspearean ‘put down’: as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, ‘Never in your life, I think, unless you see Canary put me down.’ (Twelfth Night, i., 3). For synonyms, see Screwed.

3. (painters’).—Hung low at an exhibition; in contradistinction to skyed (q.v.), and on the line (q.v.).

Floorer, subs. (common).—1. An auctioneer (q.v.); or knock-down blow; cf., Dig, Bang, and Wipe. Hence, sudden or unpleasant news; a decisive argument; an unanswerable retort; a decisive check. Sp., peso.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 20. For in these fancy
times, ’tis your hits in the muns, And your choppers and floorers
that govern the funds.

1839. Swinton, Trial of Wm. Humphreys, p. 297. It is a downright
floorer to the Grown.

1856. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green.
The Putney Pet stared.... The inquiry for his college was, in the
language of his profession, a ‘regular floorers.’

1861. H. C. Pennell, Puck on Pegasus, p. 20. What a floorers to my
hopes is this performance on the ropes! Miss Marianne suspensa
scalis—(Would twere sus. per coll instead).

1868. Cassell’s Magazine, 4 Jan., p. 213. ‘Ah, she hasn’t told you
of the strokes I have had, one arter the other—clean floorers, and
left like a log of wood in my bed.’

2. (schools’).—A question, or a paper, too hard to master.

3. (bowling alley).—A ball that brings down all the pins.

4. (thieves’).—A thief who trips his man, and robs in picking him up; a Ramper (q.v.).

1809. G. Andrews, Dict. of the Slang and Cant Languages, s.v.

Flooring, subs. (pugilists’).—Knocking down. Hence, to vanquish in all senses.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. xii. Cross-buttocking ...
being as indispensable an ingredient, as nobbing, flooring, etc.

Floor-walker, subs. (American).—A shop-walker.

Flop, subs. and verb. (American university).—1. A bite (q.v.); a successful dodge.

1856. Hall, College Words and Customs. Any ‘cute’ performance by
which a man is sold is a good flop, and by a phrase borrowed from
the base-ball ground is ‘rightly played.’ The discomfited
individual declares that they ‘are all on a side,’ and gives up, or
‘rolls over,’ by giving his opponent ‘gowdy.’ A man writes cards
during examinations to ‘feeze the profs’; said cards are ‘gumming
cards,’ and he flops the examination if he gets a good mark by the
means. One usually flops his marks by feigning sickness.

2. (common)—A sudden fall or ‘flop’ down.

3. (common).—A collapse or breakdown.

4. (For flap or flip, old).—A light blow.

1662. Rump Songs, ii., 3. The good the Rump will do, when they
prevail, Is to give us a flop with a fox’s tail, Which nobody can
deny.

Verb. (colloquial).—1. To fall, or flap down suddenly. A variant of ‘flap.’ Fr., prendre un billet de parterre.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. iv. ch. v. She had flopped her
hat over her eyes.

1859. Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, bk. ii. ch. i. If you must go
flopping yourself down.

1870. Public Opinion, 12 Feb. But even if they were more numerous
and greater than they are, we should hold aloof from the crowd that
flops in his presence with love and awe, as the dismal wife of
Jerry Cruncher flopped in pious misery.

1883. The Theatre, Feb., p. 93. She is able to call in tumbling to
the aid of tragedy, and bring the plastic arts to the portrayal of
the passions; to flop through four such acts as these night after
night, and finish with a death-scene warranted correct, to the very
last kick and quiver.

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 118. He cursed under his breath each
time he rose to follow, and smothered a yell of pain and horror
each time he flopped down.

2. (pugilists’).—To knock down; to Floor (q.v.).

1888. Sporting Life, 15 Dec. ’E carnt flop a bloke.

Adv. (colloquial).—An onomatopœia expressive of the noise of a sudden and sounding fall. Often used expletively, as slap (q.v.) is, and the American right (q.v.)

1726. Vanbrugh, Journey to London, Act I., Sc. 2. That down came I
flop o’ my feace all along in the channel.

1860. Punch, v. 38, p. 255. ’Twixt two stools, flop, he let me
drop, The fall it was my murther.

1881. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. vi. ‘She’ll roll down,
papa, and come flop.’

To flop over, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To turn heavily; hence (in America), to make a sudden change of sides, association, or allegiance.

Flop-Up, subs. (American).—A day’s tramp, as opposed to a sot-down = half a day’s travel.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 15 Sept. ‘Stranger, did ye lope it?’
(come on foot). ‘Yes.’ ‘A mile or a sot down?’ ‘More’n that. About
a dozen flop-ups.’

Flop-up-time = Bedtime.

[Flop, too, is something of a vocable of all-work. Thus to flop in
= (venery) to effect intromission; to flop round = to loaf; to
dangle; to flop a judy = to lay out, or ‘spread’ (q.v.), a girl; to
do a flop = (colloquial) to sit, or to fall, down, and (venery) to
lie down to a man; to flop out = to leave the water noisily and
awkwardly; belly-flopping = belly-bumping, coition; a flop in the
gills = a smack in the mouth.]

Florence, subs. (old)—‘A wench that has been touzed and ruffled.’

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, and (1785) Grose, s.v.

Floster, subs. (common).—A mixed drink: sherry, noyau, peach-leaves, lemon, sugar, ice, and soda-water. Cf., Flesh-and-blood.

Flouch. To fall (or go), flouch (or floush), verb. phr. (colloquial).—To come to pieces; to sag suddenly on the removal of a restraining influence: as a pair of stays.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 13. Old Georgy went floush, and his
backers look’d shy.

Flounce, verb. (colloquial).—To move with violence, and (generally) in anger. Said of women, for whom such motion is, or rather was, inseparable from a great flourishing of flounces.

Flounder, subs. (riverside thieves’).—1. A drowned corpse. Cf., Dab, and for synonyms, see Stiff.

2. (Stock Exchange).—To sell, and afterwards re-purchase a stock, or vice versâ.

1889. Echo, 1 Feb. A third expedient offers itself—namely, to turn
round and buy; but this operation goes by the name of ‘floundering’
especially when the speculator loses both ways.

Flounder-and-Dab, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A cab. For synonyms, see Growler.

Flour, subs. (American).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

Flourish, subs. (venery).—Coition in a hurry; flyer (q.v.); a fast-fuck (q.v.). Also verbally. For synonyms see Greens and Ride.

1796. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v. To enjoy a
woman with her clothes on or without going to bed.

Verb (colloquial.).—To be in luck: e.g., ‘I flourish’ = ‘I am well off’; ‘Do you flourish,’ or ‘Are you flourishing?’ = ‘Have you got any money?’

Flourishing, adj. (colloquial).—A retort to the enquiry, ‘How are you?’ The equivalent of ‘Pretty well, thank you?’

To flourish it, verb. phr. (venery).—To expose the person.

Flower, subs. (venery).—1. The female pudendum. Also Flower-pot. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

2. In pl. (conventional).—The menstrual flux. Cf., Flag, sense 3.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Biancure, the monthly flowers
that women have.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Le fourrier de la lune a marqué le
logis, applicable to a woman that hath her flowers.

Flower-Fancier, subs. phr. (venery).—A whore-master.

Flowery, subs. (thieves’).—Lodging; entertainment; ‘square the omee for the flowery’ = pay the landlord for the lodging. [Lingua Franca.]

Flowery Language, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A euphemism for blasphemous and obscene speech.

Flower of Chivalry, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Flowing-hope, subs. (military).—A forlorn hope.

Flub-dub-and-Guff, subs. phr. (American).—Rhetorical embellishment; high-falutin’ (q.v.).

1888. Detroit Free Press, August. Rev. Mr. Selah (to desk editor of
the Daily Roarer)—‘Mr. Seezars, are you going to publish my prayer
in full?’ Desk Editor—‘In full? Well, I guess not.’ (Changing his
tone)—‘However, we’ll do what we can for you. By swiping out the
flub-dub-and-guff, I guess we’ll have room to put in the points.’

Flue, subs. (old). 1. The Recorder of London or any large town. Bamfylde Moore-Carew.

2. (colloquial).—The filth, part fluff, part hair, part dust, which collects under ill-kept beds, and at the junctures of sofas and chairs; Beggar’s Velvet (q.v.).

1860. Dickens, Uncommercial Traveller. ‘Arcadian London.’ A power
they possess of converting everything into flue. Such broken
victuals as they take by stealth appear (whatever the nature of the
viands) to generate flue.... Ibid. ‘Refreshment for Travellers.’
Take the old established Bull’s Head ... with its old-established
flue under its old established four-post bedsteads.

3. (common).—A contraction of ‘influenza.’

Verb (common).—To put in pawn.

In (or up) the flue, phr. (common).—Pawned. For synonyms, see Pop.

1821. Real Life, etc., I., p. 566.

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, II., p. 250. I’ve had
sometimes to leave half my stock in flue with a deputy for a
night’s rest.

Up the flue (or spout), adj. phr. (colloquial).—Dead; collapsed, mentally or physically.

To be up one’s flue, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be awkward for one. That’s up your flue = That’s a ‘facer,’ or that’s up against you.

Flue-Faker (or Scraper), subs. (common).—A chimney-sweep. [From Flue + Faker (q.v.).] Minor clergy = young chimney sweeps. For synonyms, see Clergyman.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 60. The ‘office’ has been given to
‘shove’ the poor flue-faker against Tom’s light drab coat.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

1882. Punch. LXXXII., p. 185, col. 2.

Fluff (or Fluffings), subs. (railway clerks’).—1. Short change given by booking-clerks. The practice is known as Fluffing. Cf., Menavelings. Fr., des fruges (= more or less unlawful profits of any sort).

1890. Star, 27 Jan. Many porters on this line are but getting 15s.
per week, and with regard to ‘tips,’ or, as we say, ‘fluff’—well,
would you not think it mean to tell your servant when you engaged
him that such were strictly forbidden by punishment with dismissal,
and then proclaim to the world that with good wages and tips your
servant was well paid.

2. (theatrical).—‘Lines’ half learned and imperfectly delivered. Hence, To do a fluff = to forget one’s part.

1891. W. Archer, The World, p. 28, col. 1, line 34. But even as
seen through a cloud of fluff the burlesque is irresistibly
amusing.

3. (venery).—The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.

Verb. (railway clerks’).—1. To give short change.

2. (common).—To disconcert, to Floor (q.v.). Cf., Fluff in the Pan = a failure.

3. (theatrical).—To forget one’s part. Also To do a fluff.

Fluff it! Intj. (common).—An interjection of disapproval: ‘Be off!’ ‘Take it away!’

Fluffer, subs. (common).—1. A drunkard. Cf., Fluffiness.

2. (theatrical).—A player ‘rocky on his lines’; i.e., given to forgetting his part.

3. (old).—A term of contempt.

Fluffiness, subs. (common).—1. Drunkenness. Cf., Fluffy and Fluffer.

1886. Fun, 4 August, p. 44. A sullen-faced, clerical-looking young
man, charged with fluffiness in a public conveyance, said he was
sober as a judge when taken into custody.

2. (theatrical).—The trick, or habit, of forgetting words.

Fluffy, adj. (common and theatrical).—Unsteady; of uncertain memory. Cf., Fluffer (sense 2), and Fluffiness (sense 2).

1885. Referee, July 26, p. 3, col. 2. In the last act Groves and
one or two others were either what actors call fluffy in their
lines, or else Mr. Cross was guilty of irritating tautology.

Fluke, subs. (common).—In billiards, an accidental winning hazard; in all games a result not played for; a crow (q.v.). In yachting an effect of chance; a result in which seamanship has had no part. Hence, a stroke of luck. Sp., bambarria.

1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S. IV., p. 208, col. 1. In playing at
billiards, if a player makes a hazard, etc., which he did not play
for, it is often said that he made a crow.... Another term is, ‘He
made a flook (or fluke).’

1869. Whyte Melville, M or N, p. 100. ‘Only lost a pony on the
whole meeting,’ answered Dick triumphantly. ‘And even that was a
fluke, because Bearwarden’s Bacchante filly was left at the post.’

1873. Black, Princess of Thule, ch. xix. ‘These conditions are not
often fulfilled—it is a happy fluke when they are.’

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xxxii. ‘I suppose, by your
asking the question, you have become acquainted with Mr. Solamo’s
past.’ ‘That’s just it, Mr. Prossiter; by an odd fluke I have.’

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 144. He was now being cured only to
be hanged, most likely, unless by some happy fluke he got off with
imprisonment for life.

Verb (common and billiards).—1. To effect by accident.

1888. Sportsman, 20 Dec. Fortune once more assisted Mitchell, who,
in trying to make a red loser, fluked a cannon, from which he got
on the spot, and made forty-three winners in a break of 161.

2. (schoolboys’).—To shirk.

1864. Eton School Days, ch. xvi., p. 203. ‘By Jove! I think I shall
fluke doing Verses; I should like to see Paddy drive tandem through
College,’ said Butler Burke.

To cut flukes out, verb. phr. (nautical).—To mutiny; to turn sulky and disobedient.

To turn flukes, verb. phr. (nautical).—To go to bed; i.e., to bunk (q.v.), or turn in.

Fluky, or Flukey, adj. (common).—Of the nature of a fluke (q.v.); i.e., achieved more by good luck than good guidance.

1882. Standard, 3 Sept. Bonnor got a Flukey three to square leg.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gazette, 20 March. Now, Grady was a smart
young Irishman who had thrashed Stevens twice in days gone by, and
had won a somewhat flukey victory over Young Norley.

Hence Flukiness = abounding in flukes.

1886. Ill. Sport. and Dram. News, 20 Feb., p. 579. There is no
flukiness about him: he makes his runs because he is an excellent
batsman, and takes his wickets because he is an excellent bowler.

Flummadiddle, subs. (American).—1. Nonsense; flummery (q.v.).

2. (nautical).—A sea-dainty.

1884. G. A. Sala, in Ill. London News, July 19, p. 51, col. 2. I
suppose that when the friendly skippers gam [q.v.], they feast on
flummadiddle, a dish composed, I am given to understand, of stale
bread, pork fat, molasses, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.

Flummergasted, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Astonished; confounded. A variant of flabbergasted (q.v.).

1849. New South Wales: Past and Present, ch. i., p. 14. This
coolness so completely flummergasted the fellow, that he kept
talking until Mr. Day shot him through the shoulder.

Flummery, subs. (colloquial). 1. Nonsense; gammon (q.v.); flattery.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Oatmeal and water
boiled to a jelly; also compliments: neither ... over-nourishing.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. i. I shall ... blow off as
much of the froth as I can, in order to present the residuum free
of flummery.

1846. Thackeray, Yellow Plush Papers. She swallowed Lord Crabs’
flumery just as she would so many musheruims.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xii. None of the dubious,
half-expressed, sentimental flummery.

2. (American nautical).—A kind of bread pudding.—Nordhoff.

3. (old).—Oatmeal and water boiled to a jelly.—Grose (1785).

Flummox, Flummocks, or Flummux, verb. (colloquial).—1. To perplex, dodge, abash, or silence; to victimize; to best (q.v.); to disappoint. Also conflummox. To flummox (or conflummox) by the lip = to outslang (q.v.), or talk down; to flummox the coppers = to dodge the police; to flummox the old Dutch = to cheat one’s wife, etc. For synonyms, see Flabbergast.

2. (theatrical).—To confuse, to queer (q.v.). Cf., Corpse.

3. (American).—Used in the passive sense = to abandon a purpose; to give in; to die.

Subs. (American University).—A bad recitation; a failure.

Flummoxed, ppl. adj. (thieves’ and general).—1. Spoilt; ruined; drunk; sent down (q.v.); boshed (q.v.); defeated; disappointed; silenced; floored (q.v.).

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxiii., p. 283. ‘And my ’pinion is,
Sammy, that if your governor don’t prove an alleybi, he’ll be what
the Italians call reg’larly flummoxed, and that’s all about it.’

1840. Whibley, Cap and Gown, p. 170. So many of the men I know Were
flummoxed at the last great go.

1861. H. C. Pennell, Puck on Pegasus, p. 17. I felt flummox’d in a
brown (study understood) old fellow.

1864. Cornhill Magazine, Dec., p. 742. ‘I say, Tom.’ ‘Yes, mate.’
‘If I should have a fit heave a bucket of water over me.’ Tom was
too astonished, or, as he expressed it, conflummoxed to make any
reply.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 25 July, p. 2, col. 1. I’ll give Tom his
due, and say of him that for flummoxing a cuss (Custom House
Officer) or working the weed, I don’t know any one he couldn’t give
a chalk to and beat ’em.

1890. Punch, 30 Aug., p. 97. I’m fair flummoxed, and singing, ‘Oh,
what a surprise!’

Flummocky, adj. (colloquial).—Out of place; in bad taste.

1891. F. H. Groome. Blackwood’s Mag., March, p. 319. ‘It is a nice
solemn dress,’ she said, as she lifted a piece to examine it more
closely; ‘there’s nothing flummocky about it.’

Flummut, subs. (vagrants’).—A month in prison. See flummoxed. For synonyms, see Dose.

1889. Answers, 20th July, p. 121, col. 2. If you want to get rid of
an importunate tramp tell him to ‘stow his patter,’ or you will get
him a flummut.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 232. He
[patterer] mostly chalks a signal on or near the door. I give one
or two instances.... ‘Flummut,’ sure of a month in quod.

Flump, verb. (colloquial).—To fall, put, or be set, down with violence or a thumping noise. Onomatopœic. Also to come down with a Flump. Cf., Plump and Cachunk.

1840. Thackeray, Paris Sketch Book, ch. v. Chairs were flumped down
on the floor.

1865. H. Kingsley, The Hillyars and the Burtons, ch. lxii. Before
my mother had been a week in the partly-erected slab-house, the
women began to come in, to flump down into a seat and tell her all
about it.

Flunk, subs. (American colloquial).—1. An idler, a Loafer (q.v.) or Lawrence (q.v.).

2. (Also Flunk-out).—A failure, especially (at college) in recitations; a backing out of undertakings.

1853. Songs of Yale. In moody meditation sunk, Reflecting on my
future flunk.

1877. Brunonian, 24th Feb. A flunk is a complete fizzle; and a dead
flunk is where one refuses to get out of his seat.

1888. Missouri Republican, 11th Feb. Riddleberger forced the
presidential possibilities of the senate to a complete flunk.