of the viands) to generate flue. . . . Ibid. 'Refreshment for Travellers.' Take the old established Bull's Head . . . with its old-established flue under its old established four-post bedsteads.
3. (common).—A contraction of 'influenza.'
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.
3. (venery).—The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.
Verb. (railway clerks').—1. To give short change.
2. (common).—To disconcert, to Floor (q.v.). Cf., Fluff in the Pan = a failure.
3. (theatrical).—To forget one's part. Also To do a fluff.
Fluff it! Intj. (common).—An
interjection of disapproval: 'Be
off!' 'Take it away!'
Fluffer, subs. (common).—1. A
drunkard. Cf., Fluffiness.
2. (theatrical).—A player 'rocky on his lines'; i.e., given to forgetting his part.
3. (old).—A term of contempt.
Fluffiness, subs. (common).—1.
Drunkenness. Cf., Fluffy
and Fluffer.
1886. Fun, 4 August, p. 44. A sullen-faced, clerical-looking young man, charged with fluffiness in a public conveyance, said he was sober as a judge when taken into custody.
