fluster

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See also: flüster

English[edit]

WOTD – 12 March 2024

Etymology[edit]

The verb is probably from Middle English *flostren, *flostre (implied in flostring, flostrynge (“agitation; blustering”))[1] from a Scandinavian (North Germanic) language; compare Icelandic flaustr (“a bustle; a hurry”), flaustra (“to bustle”).[2]

The noun is derived from the verb.[3]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

fluster (third-person singular simple present flusters, present participle flustering, simple past and past participle flustered)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To throw (someone) into a state of confusion or panic; to befuddle, to confuse.
      Synonyms: agitate, bewilder; see also Thesaurus:confuse
    2. (dated) To make (someone) feel flushed and hot through drinking alcoholic beverages; also, to make (someone) slightly drunk or tipsy.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. To be agitated and confused; to bustle.
      He seemed to fluster when speaking in front of many people.
      • 1865, George Meredith, “Rhoda Pledges Her Hand”, in Rhoda Fleming. […], volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 195:
        [H]e broke out upon Mrs. Sumfit: "Now, then, mother!" which caused her to fluster guiltily, […]
      • 1893, Rudyard Kipling, “The Disturber of Traffic”, in Many Inventions, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 16:
        A little bit before morning the Dutch gunboat come flustering up, and the two ships stood together watching the lights burn out and out, till there was nothing left 'cept Flores Straits, all green and wet, and a dozen wreck-buoys, and Wurlee Light.
    2. (British, dialectal) To catch attention; to be showy or splendid.
    3. (obsolete) To boast or brag noisily; to bluster, to swagger.
      • 1694 May 9 (Gregorian calendar); first published 1698, Robert South, “Christianity Mysterious, and the Wisdom of God in Making it so, Proved in a Sermon Preached at Westminster-Abbey, April 29. 1694.”, in Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions, volume III, London: […] Tho[mas] Warren for Thomas Bennet […], →OCLC, page 263:
        And the Apoſtle [Paul] ſeems here moſt peculiarly to have directed this Encomium of the Gospel, as a Defiance to the Philoſophers of his Time, the Fluſtring Vain-glorious Greeks, vvho pretended ſo much to magnify, and even Adore the VViſdom they profeſſed, […]
        An adjective use.
    4. (obsolete) Of a seed: to produce a shoot quickly.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

fluster (plural flusters)

  1. A state of agitation or confusion; a flutter.
    Synonym: flurry
  2. (obsolete)
    1. A state of slight drunkenness or tipsiness; also, the excitement caused by this state.
      • 1710 November 29 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele et al.], “Saturday, November 18, 1710”, in The Tatler, number 252; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume III, London: I. Walker and Co.;  […], 1822, →OCLC, page 335:
        It is certainly a very agreeable change, when we see a glass raise a lifeless conversation into all the pleasures of wit and good humour. But when Caska adds to his natural impudence the fluster of a bottle, that which fools call fire when he was sober, all men abhor as outrage when he is drunk.
    2. (uncertain) Showiness, splendour.
      • 1676, Andreas Rivetus, Junior [pseudonym; Andrew Marvell], Mr. Smirke. Or, The Divine in Mode. […], [London]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 4:
        Yet to vvork he fell, not omitting firſt to Sum himſelf up in the vvhole vvardrobe of his Function; […] as to the end that being huff'd up in all his Eccleſiaſtical fluſter, he might appear more formidable, and in the pride of his Heart and Habit, out-boniface an Humble Moderator.
      • 1717, Robert South, “The Third Part or Discourse Concerning Temptation. 2 Peter ii. 9.”, in Twelve Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions, 6th edition, volume VI, London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC, page 220:
        Let no preſent fluſter of Fortune, or flovv of Riches, either tranſport the Man himſelf vvith Confidence, or the Fools about him vvith Admiration, till vve ſee that it makes him better and vviſer than he vvas before, […]

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “flostring, ger.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “fluster, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “fluster, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “fluster, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “fluster, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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