fluff

From earlier floow (“woolly substance, down, nap, lint”), also spelt flough, flue, and flew, of uncertain origin; or a blend of flue +‎ puff. Flue is perhaps a borrowing of West Flemish vluwe (compare Middle Dutch vloe), or perhaps onomatopoeic; compare dialectal English floose, flooze, fleeze (“particles of wool or cotton; fluff; loose threads or fibres”), Danish fnug (“down, fluff”), Swedish fnugg (“speck, flake”), Japanese フワフワ (fuwafuwa, “lightly, softly”), Hungarian puha (“soft, fluffy”), Polish puchaty (“soft, fluffy”). Alternatively, a variant of floow, possibly from West Flemish vluwe, from French velu (“hairy, furry”), ultimately from Latin villus ("shaggy hair, tuft of hair").

• IPA^(key): /flʌf/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌf

fluff (plural fluffs)

1. Anything light, soft or fuzzy, especially fur, hair, feathers.
2. Anything inconsequential or superficial.

   That article was basically a bunch of fluff. It didn't say anything substantive.

3. Lapse, especially a mistake in an actor’s lines.
4. (New England) Marshmallow creme.
5. (LGBT) A passive partner in a lesbian relationship.
6. (Australia, euphemistic) A fart.

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

• (anything light, soft or fuzzy): fuzz, oose (Scotland), puff
• (anything inconsequential or superficial): BS, cruft, hype, all talk
• (a lapse): blooper, blunder, boo-boo, defect, error, fault, faux pas, gaffe, lapse, mistake, slip, stumble, thinko
• (passive in a lesbian relationship): ruffle
• See also Thesaurus:error

• bumfluff
• fluffy

• dust
• lint
• plumage

fluff (third-person singular simple present fluffs, present participle fluffing, simple past and past participle fluffed)

1. (transitive) To make something fluffy.

   The cat fluffed its tail.

2. (intransitive) To become fluffy, puff up.
3. (intransitive) To move lightly like fluff.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Holmes to this entry?)

4. (transitive, intransitive, of an actor or announcer) To make a mistake in one’s lines.
5. (transitive) To do incorrectly, for example mishit, miskick, miscue etc.
   • 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Either side of Rooney's fluffed chance, it was a tale of Ukrainian domination as they attacked England down both flanks and showed the greater fluidity of the teams.

6. (intransitive, Australia, euphemistic) To fart.
7. (transitive, slang) To arouse (a male pornographic actor) before filming.
   • 2008, Blue Blake, Out of the Blue: Confessions of an Unlikely Porn Star (page 187)

     To get Lance Bronson hard, Chi Chi, in desperation, called Sharon Kane to come and fluff him on the set. People were always asking me how they could get a job as a fluffer.

• fluffer
• fluff up
• fluff girl

• “fluff” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

fluff c

1. fluffy (and absorbent) stuff in a baby's diaper

• fluffmassa

• fluffa
• fluffig

• fluff in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)