altogether worthy of the high repute of the Pall Mall Gazette to publish FLIMSY as a special correspondence.
1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xviii. The sharpest of the reporters had his FLIMSY up in a minute, and took notes of the proceedings.
Flinders, subs. (common).—Pieces
infinitesimally small.
1870. New York Evening Sun, 24 May. Report of Speech of Mr. Chandler. Let us knock the British crown to FLINDERS; let us arrange for some one or two hundred thousand British graves forthwith, and cabbage the whole boundless continent without any further procrastination.
Fling, subs. (colloquial).—1. A fit of
temper.
2. (common).—A jeer; a jibe; a personal allusion or attack.
1592. Shakspeare, I Henry VI., iii., 1. Then would I have a FLING at Winchester.
1888. Star, 10 Oct. Those writers who had a FLING at Iddesleigh after his poor running at Stockton will have to take their words back some day.
1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 24 July, p. 4. col. 2. As the disputants warmed up, little personal FLINGS were of course introduced
Verb (old).—1. To cheat; to get the best of; to DO (q.v.) or diddle.—Grose.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xxi. Flung the governor out of a guinea.
2. (Scots).—To dance.
1790. Burns, Tam O' Shanter. To tell how Maggie lapt and FLANG (A souple jaud she was, and strang).
3. (venery).—To move in the act; to BACK-UP (q.v.). Fr., 'frizer la queue = to wriggle the tayle (in leachering).'—Cotgrave.
1539. David Lyndsay, Three Estaitis, Works (Ed. Laing, Edinburgh, 1879). I traist sche sal find you FLINGING your fill.
To Fling Out, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To depart in a hurry, and, especially, in a temper.
To FLING (or FLAP) IT IN ONE'S FACE, verb. phr. (prostitutes')—To expose the person.
In a fling, adv. phr. (colloquial).—In a spasm of temper.
To HAVE ONE'S FLING, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To enjoy full liberty of action or conduct. Cf., High Old Time.
1624. Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife, &c., iii., 5. I'll have a FLING.
1846-8. Thackeray. Vanity Fair, ch. xiii. Hang it; the regiment's just back from the West Indies, I must HAVE A LITTLE FLING, and then when I'm married I'll reform.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, II., 118. I don't want to marry until I HAVE HAD MY FLING, you know.
1880. Gilbert, Pirates of Penzance. Peers will be peers, And youth will HAVE HIS FLING.
1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 253. If policy (police) show up, then you let me HAVE MY FLING, eh?
TO FLING DIRT.—See DIRT.
Flinger, subs. (Scots).—A dancer.
1821. Scott, Pirate, ch. ix. That's as muckle as to say, that I suld hae minded you was a FLINGER and a fiddler yoursel', Maister Mordaunt.
Fling-Dust, subs. (old).—A street-*walker. For synonyms, see BARRACK-HACK and TART.
Flint, subs. (workmen's). A man working for a 'Union' or 'fair' house; non-Unionists are DUNG (q.v.). Both terms occur in Foote's burlesque, The Tailors: a Tragedy for Warm Weather, and they received a fresh lease of popularity during the tailors'
