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.