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.