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 Touchstone 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.
2. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Ride.
Flimping, subs. (thieves').—Stealing
from the person.
1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, p. 38. He told me as Bill had FLIMPED a yack.
1862. Cornhill Mag., vol. vi., p. 651. We are going a-FLIMPING, buzzing, cracking, etc.
1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. lx. Flimping is a style of theft which I have never practised, and, consequently of which I know nothing.
Flimsy, or Flim, subs. (common).—1.
A bank-note. [From the thinness
of the paper.] Soft-flimsy
= a note drawn on 'The Bank of
Elegance,' or 'The Bank of Engraving.'
For synonyms, see
Soft.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, iv., 443. Martin produced some FLIMSIES and said he would fight on Tuesday next.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends ('Merchant of Venice'). Not 'kites, manufactured to cheat and inveigle. But the right sort of FLIMSY, all sign'd, by Monteagle.
1855. Punch, XXIX., 10. 'Will you take it in FLIMSIES, or will you have it all in tin?'
1870. Chambers' Journal, 9 July, p. 448. 'What would it be worth?' 'A FLIM, Sam.'
1884. Daily Telegraph, 8 Apl., col. 3. One of the slang terms for a spurious bank-note is a SOFT-FLIMSY.
1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 149. Next morning when I went to the bank to collect the swag, they stopped the FLIMSY, and had me arrested before I could look round.
2. (journalists').—News of all kinds; POINTS (q.v.). [From the thin prepared paper used by pressmen for making several copies at once]. First used at Lloyd's.
1861. Cornhill Magazine, iv., 199 'At Westminster,' my lord is neither a mumbling nor a short-tempered judge; he will . . . read them a great deal of his notes, which are a thousand-fold clearer, fuller, and more accurate than the reporter's FLIMSY.
1865. Morning Star ('The Flaneur'). A London correspondent, who, by the aid of FLIMSY misleads a vast number of provincial papers.
1870. London Figaro, 23 Sept. 'Special Lining.' We do not think it is
