Adj. (old).—False.
1692. Sprat, Relation of Young’s Contrivance (Harl. Misc. vi. 224).
To amuse him the more in his search, she addeth a flam story that
she had got his hand by corrupting one of the letter-carriers in
London.
Verb (colloquial).—1. To take in; to flatter; to lie; to foist or fob
off. flamming = lying.
1658. Rowley and Ford, &c., Witch of Edm., ii., 2. Was this your
cunning? and then flam me off with an old witch, two wives, and
Winnifride.
1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, II. in wks. (1720) iv. 41. Does he
think to flam me with a lye?
1830. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, ch. v. But I’ll show
him whether or not I, for one of them, am to be jeered and flammed
with impunity.
1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xxviii. How she did flam that
poor old Domine.
(American University).—To affect, or prefer, female society; to Grouse
(q.v.). [A corruption of flame (q.v.)]. See Molrowing.
Flambustious, adj. (American).—Showy; gaudy; pleasant.
1868. Putnam’s Magazine. We will have a flambustious time. [Cf.,
Shakspeare (1608), Antony and Cleopatra, iii., 11. Let’s have one
other gaudy night.]
Flamdoodle, subs. (American).—Nonsense; vain boasting. Probably a
variant of flapdoodle (q.v.).
1888. New York Sun. We wasn’t goin’ to have any high falutin’
flamdoodle business over him.
Flame, subs. (colloquial).—1. A sweetheart; a mistress in keeping. Old
flame = an old lover; a cast-off mistress. Also (2) a venereal disease.
b. 1664. d. 1721. Mathew Prior [in Palgrave’s “Golden Treasury of
Songs and Lyrics,” ed. 1885]. Euphelia serves to grace my measure,
but Chloe is my real flame.
1757. Foote, Author, Act I. Let’s see, Mr. and Mrs. Cadwallader,
and your flame, the sister, as I live.
1846–8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. xiv. On this Rebecca instantly
stated that Amelia was engaged to be married to a Lieutenant
Osborne, a very old flame.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
Flamer, subs. (colloquial).—A man, woman, thing, or incident above the
common. [Literally conspicuous to flaming point, i.e., as a light in
the dark]. For synonyms, see Stunner.
1840. H. Cockton, Valentine Vox, ch. ii. Concocting a criticism on
the evening’s performance, which certainly was, according to the
signor’s own acknowledgment, a regular flamer.
Flames, subs. (old).—A red-haired person. Cf., Carrots and Ginger.
1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of the Turf, etc., p. 79. Who should I fling
my precious ogles upon but flames—she as lived at the ‘Blue Posts.’
Flaming, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Conspicuous; ardent; stunning (q.v.).
For synonyms, see A 1 and Fizzing.
1738. Swift, Polite Conv., Dialogue II. Lord Sparkish. My Lady
Smart, your ladyship has a very fine scarf. Lady Smart. Yes, my
lord, it will make a flaming figure in a country church.
1776. Rubrick, The Spleen, ii. I’ll send a flaming paragraph of
their wedding to all the newspapers.
1872. Besant and Rice. Ready Money Mortiboy, ch. xxx. He called one
of the children, and sent her for a bill. She presently returned
with a flaming poster.
Flanderkin, subs. (old).—See quot.
1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v. A very large fat
man or horse; also natives of that country.
Flanders Fortunes, subs. phr. (old).—Of small substance.—B. E., New
Dict. of the Canting Crew (1690).
Flanders Pieces, subs. phr. (old).—See quot.
1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Flanders pieces,
pictures that look fair at a distance, but coarser near at hand.
Flank, verb (common).—1. To crack a whip; also, to hit a mark with the
lash of one.
1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford (ed. 1854), p. 18. He then,
taking up a driving whip, flanked a fly from the opposite wall.
1833. ‘An Anglo-sapphic Ode’ (Whibley, Cap and Gown, p. 136). Kicks
up a row, gets drunk, or flanks a tandem whip out of window.
2. (colloquial).—To deliver—a blow or a retort; to push; to hustle; to
quoit (Shakspeare). Fr., flanquer: as in flanquer à la porte, and Je
lui at flanqué un fameux coup de pied au cul!
A Plate of Thin Flank, subs. phr. (common).—A ‘sixpenny cut’ off the
joint. See N. Twill in Fancy Too Late for Dinner.
To Flank the whole bottle, verb. phr. (American soldiers’).—To dodge,
i.e., to outflank, to achieve by strategy. For synonyms, see Stick.
1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 286. When the men wished to escape
the attention of pickets and guards by slipping past them, they
said they flanked them; drill, and detail, and every irksome duty
was flanked, when it could be avoided by some cunning trick. Soon,
however, honesty itself was thus treated, and the poor farmer was
flanked out of his pig and his poultry, and not infrequently even
the comrade out of his pipe and tobacco, if not his rations. The
height of strategy was employed in these various flank manœuvres,
when the Commissary could be made to surrender some of his whiskey,
and thus it came about, in the South at least, that to flank the
whole bottle was a phrase expressive of superlative cunning and
brilliant success.
Flanker, subs. (common).—A blow; a retort; a kick. Cf., Flank, sense 1.
Flankey, subs. (common).—The posteriors. For synonyms, see Blind Cheeks
and Monocular Eyeglass.
1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.
Flannel. See Hot Flannel.
Flannels. To get one’s flannels, verb. phr. (schools’).—To get a place
in the school football or cricket teams, or in the boats. Cf., ‘to get
one’s colours,’ or ‘one’s blue.’
Flap, subs. (thieves’).—1. Sheet-lead used for roofing. Fr., doussin;
noir. Cf., Bluey.