flimsy
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈflɪmzi/
rhymes: -ɪmzi
Forms: form: flimsies
Etymology: The origin of the adjective is uncertain; it is possibly from flim(-flam) (“(noun) false information presented as true, misinformation, nonsense; poor attempt at deception, confidence trick, pretence; (adjective) frivolous, nonsensical; deceptive; fictitious”) or a metathesis of film (“thin layer of a substance; slender thread”) + -sy (suffix forming adjectives and nouns).
The noun and verb are derived from the noun. Noun sense 4 (“metal container”) refers to the fact that the containers often split along their seams and leaked.
Senses: examples: text: Is every body incapable of reaſon, and making a right eſtimate of the merits of men? caught vvith mere outſide? chooſing the flimſy before the ſubſtantial?
ref: 1794, William Godwin, chapter V, in Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams. […], volume I, London: […] B. Crosby, […], →OCLC, page 96:
glosses: A thing which is ill-founded, unconvincing, or weak.
examples: text: “‘Pray, miss,’ he said, ‘do not interrupt me. I represent the Press. The Fourth Estate, miss. I’m afraid I shan’t have enough flimsy.’ “Those were his very words, Kate. By flimsy, I learn that he meant writing paper. Do our great poets—does my adored [Alfred, Lord] Tennyson write on ‘flimsy?’[”]
ref: 1872, [Walter Besant, James Rice], chapter 8, in Ready-money Mortiboy. A Matter-of-fact Story. […], volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, pages 125–126:
text: I had just finished breakfast and was filling my pipe when I got Bullivant's telegram. […] I flung him the flimsy with the blue strip pasted down on it, and he whistled.
ref: 1916, John Buchan, “A Mission is Proposed”, in Greenmantle, London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 1:
text: She dragged the cover off the typewriter with sound and fury, jerked the desk-drawers till they slammed against the drawer-stops, shook the top-sheet carbons and flimsies together as a terrier shakes a rat, and attacked the machine tempestuously.
ref: 1930, Dorothy L[eigh] Sayers, chapter XIV, in Strong Poison, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published April 1967, →ISBN, page 118:
text: 'I told you that I had an answer to that cable, Mr Stewart,' he said directly. 'I'm afraid it isn't very satisfactory.' He passed the flimsy to Keith, who could not read it without the steel-rimmed spectacles he always had to use for close work.
ref: 1960, Nevil Shute [pseudonym; Nevil Shute Norway], chapter 3, in Trustee from the Toolroom, London; Melbourne, Vic.: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 47:
text: Smiley peered once more at the flimsy which he still clutched in his pudgy hand.
ref: 1977, John le Carré [pseudonym; David John Moore Cornwell], The Honourable Schoolboy, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN, page 274:
glosses: Thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document; (countable) a sheet of such paper.
examples: text: A perusal of the comments of officers under whom he [Captain Duncan Herbert Stevens] has served as recorded in his “flimsies" indicates that he has almost consistently received high commendation for his service.
ref: 1964 August 13, John [Armstrong] Spicer, Commissioner, “Officers Principally Concerned”, in Report of Royal Commissioner on Loss of H.M.A.S. “Voyager” (Papers Presented to Parliament; XIII), Canberra, A.C.T: [F]or the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia by A. J. Arthur, Commonwealth Government printer, →OCLC, page 3:
text: Regulations required a commanding officer to render annual confidential reports on the character and ability of his officers – with particular reference to sobriety – on forms known as ‘flimsies’.
ref: 1994, John Wells, “The Community of the Mid-Victorian Navy”, in The Royal Navy: An Illustrated Social History 1870–1982, Stroud, Gloucestershire; Dover, N.H.: Alan Sutton Publishing in association with the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth, →ISBN, page 7:
topics: government
military
naval
navy
politics
war
glosses: A document printed or typed on such paper.
A service certificate.
examples: text: In English Exchequer-bills full half a million, / Not “kites,” manufactured to cheat and inveigle, / But the right sort of ‘flimsy,’ all sign’d by Monteagle.
ref: 1842 April, Thomas Ingoldsby [pseudonym; Richard Harris Barham], “The Merchant of Venice. A Legend of Italy.”, in Bentley’s Miscellany, volume XI, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 430:
text: THE THIEVES' ALPHABET. […] Q was a Queer-screen, that served as a blind;†† / R was a Reader,‡‡ with flimsies well lined; […]
ref: 1845, George W[illiam] M[acArthur] Reynolds, “The Old House in Smithfield Again”, in The Mysteries of London, volume I, London: Geo[rge] Vickers, […], →OCLC, page 60, column 1:
glosses: A document printed or typed on such paper.
A banknote; (uncountable) paper money.
examples: text: [page 31] Sub-editors are now hard at work cutting down "flimsy," ramming sheets of "copy" on files, endlessly conferring with perspiring foremen. […] [page 34] The last report from the late debate in the Commons has come in; the last paragraph of interesting news, dropped into the box by a stealthy penny-a-liner, has been eliminated from a mass of flimsy on its probation, and for the most part rejected; […]
ref: 1859, George Augustus Sala, “Five o’Clock a.m.—The Publication of the ‘Times’ Newspaper”, in Twice Round the Clock; or The Hours of the Day and Night in London. […], London: Houlston and Wright, […], →OCLC, pages 31 and 34:
topics: journalism
media
newspapers
glosses: A document printed or typed on such paper.
The text to be set into pages of magazines, newspapers, etc.; copy.
examples: text: But the Q[uartermaster] has ballsed-up T3 patrol's fuel ration; instead of jerry cans we get "flimsies," the notorious four-gallon containers made of metal so thin you can practically puncture it with a fingernail. Flimsies come two to a case, packed in cardboard. Of seventy-six that Collier's crew take down from the Mack, twenty-one are leaking at the seams; eleven have drained half to nil.
ref: 2008, Steven Pressfield, chapter 10, in Killing Rommel […], New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN, page 98:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A hexahedral metal container with a capacity of four imperial gallons (about 18 litres) used by the British Army during World War II to hold fuel.
Derived terms: soft flimsy