fluster

See also: flüster

English

Etymology

From a Scandinavian (North Germanic) language, akin to Icelandic flaustra (“to be flustered”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflʌstə(ɹ)/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌstə(ɹ)

Verb

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

1. (dated) To make hot and rosy, as with drinking.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 20, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     His practice of flustering himself daily with claret.

2. (by extension) To confuse; befuddle; throw into panic by making overwrought with confusion.

   He seemed to get flustered when speaking in front of too many people.

3. (intransitive) To be in a heat or bustle; to be agitated and confused.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC:

     the flustring, vain-glorious Greeks

Derived terms

• flustered (adjective)
• flustering (adjective, present participle)

Translations

confuse, befuddle, throw into panic by making overwrought with confusion

• Bulgarian: обърквам (bg) (obǎrkvam), шашардисвам (bg) (šašardisvam)
• Finnish: hermostuttaa (fi), hämmentää (fi)
• French: confondre (fr), embrouiller (fr), paumer (fr)
• German: verwirren (de), überrumpeln (de)
• Greek: συγχύζω (el) (synchýzo), ταράζω (el) (tarázo)
• Ido: konfuzeskar (io)
• Maori: whakapōnānā, pōnānā, whakahūkiki
• Portuguese: afobar (pt)
• Russian: волнова́ть (ru) (volnovátʹ), взбудораживать (ru) (vzbudoraživatʹ)
• Ukrainian: хвилювати (xvyljuvaty), збуджувати (zbudžuvaty); метушитися (metušytysja)

Noun

fluster (plural flusters)

1. A state of being flustered; overwrought confusion.

Translations

state of overwrought confusion

• German: Durcheinander (de) m
• Maori: hūkikitanga
• Portuguese: afobação (pt)

Anagrams

• RESTful, fluters, furtles, restful