1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 12 Nov., p. 6, col. 2. There were the clowns who danced, turned somersaults, flip-flaps, and contorted themselves.
3. (American). A kind of tea-cake.
1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xviii. The first evening I took tea with Mrs. Scrimmager. 'It must be more than a mite lonely for you,' she said, as we sat over her dough-nuts and flip-flaps.
4. (nautical). The arm. For synonyms, see Bender.
5. (venery). The penis.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I., 20. I might have cleft her water-gap And joined it close with my flip-flap.
Flipper, subs. (nautical and
common). 1. The hand. Tip
us your flipper = give me your
hand. [From the flipper or
paddle of a turtle.] For synonyms,
see Daddle and Mauley.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 'Lay of St. Gengulphus.' With those great sugar-nippers they nipp'd off his flippers, As the clerk, very flippantly, termed his fists.
1884. Punch, 11 Oct. 'Arry at a Political Picnic.' Old Bluebottle tipped me his flipper, and 'oped I'd 'refreshed,' and all that.
2. (common). See Flapper.
3. (theatrical). Part of a scene, hinged and painted on both sides, used in trick changes.
Flirtatious, adj. (American).—Flighty.
1881, W. D. Howells, D. Breen's Practice, ch. i., "Oh, you needn't look after her, Mr. Libby! There's nothing flirtatious about Grace," said Mrs. Maynard.
Flirt-gill, Flirtgillian, or
Gill-flirt, subs. (old). A
wanton; a chopping girl (q.v.);
specifically a strumpet. For synonyms,
see Barrack-hack and
Tart.
1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. Scurvy knave! I am none of his FLIRT-GILLS.
1713. Guardian, No. 26. We are invested with a parcel of flirt-gills, who are not capable of being mothers of brave men.
1729. Gay, Polly, ii. 4. While a man is grappling with these gill-flirts, pardon the expression, Captain, he runs his reason aground.
1822. Scott, Fort. of Nigel, ch. v. She is a dutiful girl to her god-father, though I sometimes call her a jill-flirt.
Flirtina Cop-all, subs. phr.
(common). A wanton, young or
old; a men's woman (q.v.).
Float, subs. (theatrical).—The footlights:
before the invention of
gas they were oil-pans with floating
wicks. Cf., Ark-floater.
1886. Saturday Review, 24 July, p. 108. To an actor the float is not what it is to a fisherman.
1889. Answers, 8 June, p. 24. He slapped me on the back, put me in a hansom, and cried, 'We'll have you behind the float (footlights) in a week.'
If that's the way the stick floats. See Stick.
Floater, subs. (Stock Exchange).—An
Exchequer bill; applied also
to other unfunded stock.
1871. Temple Bar, XXXI., 320. On the Stock Exchange, where slang abounds, floaters is a term which would puzzle outsiders. Floaters are Exchequer bills and their unfunded stock.
2. (common).—A suet dumpling in soup.
3. (political).—A vendible voter.
1883. Graphic, 17 Mar., p. 279, col. 3. 'How many voters are there?' asked a candidate in one of these pure-blooded
