Funny, subs. (nautical).—A clinker-built, narrow boat for sculls.
1837. Barham, I. L., Sir Rupert the Fearless. Sprang up through the
waves, popped him into his funny, Which some others already had
half-filled with money.
1882. Field, 28 Jan. The only obtainable craft, besides funnies,
pair-oars, and randans, were a couple of six-oars.
To feel funny, verb. phr. (common).—To be overtaken with (1) emotion,
or (2) drink: e.g., to wax amorous, or get the flavour (q.v.); to begin
to be the worse for liquor.
Funny Bit, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum.
Funny Bone, subs. (popular).—The elbow, with the passage of the ulnar
nerve connecting the two bones: the extremity of the humerus.
1837. Barham, I. L. (Blondie Jacke). They have pull’d you down flat
on your back! And they smack, and they thwack, Till your funny
bones crack, As if you were stretch’d on the rack.
1853. Thackeray, ‘Shabby Genteel Story,’ ch. ix. He had merely
received a blow on that part which anatomists call the funny bone.
1870. Lowell Courier. Thanks for your kind condolence; I would
write A merry rhyme in answer if I might; But then—confound the
fall!—the very stone That broke my humerus hurt my funny bone!
Funny-man, subs. (common).—A circus clown. Also a joker in private
life.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor., III., p. 129. What
I’ve earned as clown, or the funny man.
Fur, subs. (venery).—The pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.
To make the fur fly.—See Fly.
To have one’s fur out, verb. phr. (Winchester College).—To be angry.
For synonyms, see Nab the rust.
Fur and Feathers, subs. phr. (sporting).—Generic for game.
Fur-below, subs. (venery).—The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see
Fleece.
16(?). Old Catch. Adam caught Eve by the fur-below, And that’s the
oldest catch I know.
Furioso, subs. (old).—A blusterer; Ital., furioso = raving.
1692. Hacket. Life of Archbishop Williams, ii., p. 218. A violent
man and a furioso was deaf to all this.
English Synonyms.—Barker; blower; bobadil; bouncer; bulldozer
(American); cacafogo; Captain Bounce; Captain Bluff; Captain Grand;
Captain Hackam; cutter; fire-eater; hector; huff-cap; humguffin;
gasser; gasman; mouth; mouth-almighty; pissfire; pump-thunder; ramper;
roarer; ruffler; shitefire; slangwhanger; spitfire; swashbuckler;
swasher; teazer; Timothy Tearcat.
French Synonyms.—Un avale-tout-cru (popular: = an eat-all-he-kills); un
fendart or fendart (popular: = a cutter); un avaleur de charrettes
fereés (popular); un mata (printers’: from matador = a bull-fighter);
un bousineur (popular: bousin = uproar, shindy); un bourreau de crânes
(military): = a scull-destroyer; un bœufier (popular: = an ugly
customer); un mauvais gas (familiar: from garçon); un homme qui a l’air
de vouloir tout avaler (familiar: a man who looks as though he’d
swallow the world); un croquet (popular).
Spanish Synonyms.—Perdonavidas; fierabras (fiera = a wild beast);
botarate; macareno cacafuoco (= a shitfire).
Furk, Ferk, Firk, verb. (Winchester College).—To expel; to send (as on
a message); to drive away. Also to furk up and furk down. [Old English
fercian, High German ferken, Middle English to lead or send away.]
Furmen, subs. (old).—Aldermen. From their fur-trimmed robes.
1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Furmity-faced, adj. phr. (old).—White-faced (furmity is described by
Grose as ‘wheat boiled to a jelly’). To simper like a furmity kitten
(Grose), see Simper.
Furnish, verb. (common).—To fill out; to improve in strength and
appearance.
Furniture Picture, subs. phr. (artists’).—A ‘picture’ sold not as a
piece of art but as a piece of upholstery, such things being turned out
by the score, as pianos are, or three-legged stools; the worst and
cheapest kind of potboiler (q.v.).
Furrow, subs. (venery). Also Cupid’s (or the One-ended) furrow,
etc.—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. To draw a
straight furrow. See Draw.
to fall in the furrow, verb. phr. (venery).—To achieve emission.
To fail (or die) in the furrow, verb. phr. (venery).—To do a dry-bob
(q.v.).
Furry Tail, subs. phr. (printers’).—A non-unionist; a rat (q.v.).
Specifically, a workman accepting employment at less than ‘Society’
wages. Cf., Dung, Flint, etc.
Further. I’ll see you further first, phr. (colloquial).—A denial. I’ll
sooner die first (q.v.).
1861–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., p. 29. I gave a
country lad 2d. to mind him (the donkey) in a green lane there. I
wanted my own boy to do so, but he said, I’ll see you further
first. A London boy hates being by himself in a lone country part.
He’s afraid of being burked.
Fur Trade, subs. phr. (old).—Barristers.
1839. Reynolds, Pickwick Abroad, ch. xxvi. Let nobs in the fur
trade hold their jaw, And let the jug be free.
Furze-Bush, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pubic hair. For synonyms,
see fleece.
Fussock, and Fussocks, subs. (old).—Opprobrious for a fat woman.
1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Fussocks, a meer
fussocks, a Lazy Fat-Arsed Wench, a fat fussocks, a Flusom, Fat,
Strapping Woman.
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Fust (or Fust out), verb. (American).—To end in smoke; to go to waste;
to end in nothing. Cf., fizzle.
Fustian, subs. and adj. (old).—1. Bombast; bad rhetoric; sound without
sense: bombastic; ranting. Now accepted.
1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., II., 4. Thrust him downstairs; I
cannot endure such a fustian rascal.
1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night II., 5. A fustian riddle.
1602. Shakspeare, Othello, II., 3. And discourse fustian with one’s
own shadow.
1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Fustian-verse, verse in
words of lofty sound and humble sense.
1828–45. Hood, Poems, i., p. 105 (ed. 1846). The saints!—the bigots
that in public spout, Spread phosphorous of zeal on scraps of
fustian, And go like walking ‘Lucifers’ about These living bundles
of combustion.