Flush, subs. (gamesters').—A hand of one suit.
Adj. (colloquial).—1. With plenty of money; the reverse of hard up (q.v.); warm (q.v.)., Also abounding in anything: e.g. flush of his patter = full of his talk; flush of the lotion = liberal with the drink; flush of his notions = prodigal of ideas; flush of her charms = lavish of her person; and so forth.
1603. Dekker, Batchelor's Banquet, ch. viii. Some dames of the company, which are more flush in crownes than her good man.
1605. The Play of Stucley, l. 538. They know he hath received His marriage money: they perceive he's flush And mean to share with him ere all be gone.
1663. Dryden, Wild Gallant, Act II. Con. Since you are so flush, sir, you shall give me a locket of diamonds of three hundred pounds.
1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Flush in the pocket c. full of money. The cull is flush in the fob, the Spark's pocket is well lined with money.
1767. O'Hara, Two Misers, Act I. What stops many an hopeful project? lack of cash—[looking archly at him]. Are you flush, Sir?
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1846. Thackeray, V. F., vol. I. ch. xxviii. The expenses were borne by Jos and Osborne, who was flush of money and full of kind attentions to his wife.
1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. viii. Allow me to draw on you for that amount at three months. Long before that time I shall be flush enough.
1864. Economist, 29 Oct. The world was then, if such a very colloquial expression could be pardoned, 'flush of cash,' and it sent in that cash rapidly and at once.
2. (common).—Intoxicated (i.e., full to the brim); also flushed. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.
3. (colloquial).—Level: e.g., flush with the top, with the water, with the road, with the boat's edge, etc.
Verb. (common).—1. To whip.
English Synonyms.—To bludgeon; to bumbaste; to breech (Cotgrave); to brush; to club; to curry; to dress with an oaken towel; to drub; to drybeat; to dry-bob; to drum; to fib; to flap; to flick; to flop; to jerk; to give one ballast; to hide; to lamm; to larrup; to paste; to punch; to rub down; to swinge; to swish; to switch; to trounce; to thump; to tund (Winchester); to wallop. See also Tan.
French Synonyms.—Donner l'avoine (pop. = to give a feed of hay); allumer (popular); bouiser (thieves': un bouis = a whip).
Italian Synonyms.—Smanegrare; cotillare; corillare; cerire.
2. (colloquial).—To clean by filling full, and emptying, of water: e.g., to flush a sewer; to wash, swill, or sluice away. Also to fill with water: e.g., to flush a lock.
1884. Henley and Stevenson, Admiral Guinea, i., 8. Pray for a new heart; flush out your sins with tears.
3. (shooting).—To start or raise a bird from covert: e.g., to flush a snipe, or a covey of partridges. Hence (venery) to flush a wild duck = to single out a woman for grousing (q.v.).
To come flush on one, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To come suddenly and unexpectedly (Marvell); to overwhelm (as by a sudden rush of water).
