Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Flummery
Flum′mer-y
,Noun.
[W.
llumru
, or llumruwd
, a kind of food made of oatmeal steeped in water until it has turned sour, fr. llumrig
harsh, raw, crude, fr. llum
sharp, severe.] 1.
A light kind of food, formerly made of flour or meal; a sort of pap.
Milk and
flummery
are very fit for children. Locke.
2.
Something insipid, or not worth having; empty compliment; trash; unsubstantial talk of writing.
The
flummery
of modern criticism. J. Morley.
Webster 1828 Edition
Flummery
FLUM'MERY
,Noun.
1.
A sort of jelly made of flour or meal; pap.Milk and flummery are very fit for children.
2.
In vulgar use, any thing insipid or nothing to the purpose; flattery.Definition 2024
flummery
flummery
English
Noun
Flummery
flummery (plural flummeries)
- A custard; any of several bland, gelatinous foodstuffs, usually made from stewed fruit and thickened with oatmeal, cornstarch or flour.
- Empty or meaningless talk.
- deceptive or blustering speech.
- 1940, Rex Stout, Over My Dead Body
- "Pfui! This is flummery!"
- 1960, John Wyndham, The Trouble With Lichen (Penguin Books), page 91:
- This is the twentieth century, for what it’s worth. It’s not the age of reason, or even the nineteenth century, it’s the era of flummery, and the day of the devious approach. Reason’s gone into the backrooms where it works to devise means by which people can be induced to emote in the desired direction.
- 1940, Rex Stout, Over My Dead Body
Interjection
flummery!
- an expression of contemptuous disbelief