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.