fluff
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /flʌf/
ipa: /flɐf/
ipa: /flʊf/
rhymes: -ʌf
Forms: form: fluffs
Etymology: From earlier floow (“woolly substance, down, nap, lint”), also spelt flough, flue, and flew, from West Flemish vluwe,
of uncertain ultimate origin:
* Compare Old English flōh (“that which is flown off, fragment, piece”); see flaw
* Possibly representing a blend of flue + puff; 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”).
* Alternatively, West Flemish vluwe may derive from French velu (“hairy, furry”), from Latin villūtus (“having shaggy hair”), from villus (“shaggy hair, tuft of hair”).
For words of similar sound and meaning in other languages, compare Japanese フワフワ (fuwafuwa, “lightly, softly”), Hungarian puha (“soft, fluffy”), Polish puchaty (“soft, fluffy”), Romanian puf (“down, peachfuzz, soft hair of some animals, powderpuff”).
Senses: examples: text: [W]hen I walk in my fields I can see, down Berwick way, the little fluffs of white smoke which tell me of this strange new hundred-legged beast, with coals for food and a thousand men in its belly, for ever crawling over the border.
ref: 1892, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “[The Great Shadow] The Right of the Beacons”, in The Great Shadow and Beyond the City, Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., →OCLC, page 5:
glosses: Anything light, soft or fuzzy, especially fur, hair, feathers.
examples: text: That article was basically a bunch of fluff. It didn't say anything substantive.
glosses: Anything inconsequential or superficial.
synonyms: flub
glosses: A lapse or mistake, especially a mistake in an actor's lines.
glosses: A cloth diaper.
examples: That New England-style salami and fluff sandwich sure hit the spot!
glosses: Marshmallow creme.
glosses: A passive partner in a lesbian relationship.
glosses: A fart.
examples: text: And when something triggers, I can close the window and go read fluff for hours until I calm down.
ref: 2011, anonymous, quoted in Katherine Larsen & Lynn Zubernis, Fandom at the Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/producer Relationships, page 138
text: Fans prefer fluff to other types of fic. But angst (dramatic stories where characters have a wide range of emotions, including...angsty ones) comes in close second.
ref: 2017, "Flourish Kink", quoted in Ashley J. Barner, The Case for Fanfiction: Exploring the Pleasures and Practices of a Maligned Craft, page 67
text: Ah, fluff. My happy place. These fics are dedicated to feel-good feelings, which are the very best type of feelings.
ref: 2017, Carrie DiRisio, Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me, unnumbered page:
topics: lifestyle
glosses: Fan fiction, or part of a fan fiction, which is sweet and feel-good in tone, usually involving romance.
qualifier: roleplaying games
glosses: A form of roleplaying which is inconsequential and not related to the plot; often used in the context of (but not limited to) filling time.
examples: text: "What?" cried the counter-man, indignantly. "Been a railwayman all these years, and don't know what fluff is? Why, 'pon me word, you deserve to get the sack!"
ref: 1900, The Railway Magazine, volume 7, page 560:
glosses: Short change deliberately given by a railway clerk, to keep back money for himself.
Synonyms: sense: anything light, soft or fuzzy
word: fuzz
sense: anything light, soft or fuzzy
word: oose
sense: anything light, soft or fuzzy
word: puff
sense: anything inconsequential or superficial
word: BS
sense: anything inconsequential or superficial
word: cruft
sense: anything inconsequential or superficial
word: hype
sense: anything inconsequential or superficial
word: all talk
sense: a lapse
word: blooper
sense: a lapse
word: blunder
sense: a lapse
word: boo-boo
sense: a lapse
word: defect
sense: a lapse
word: error
sense: a lapse
word: fault
sense: a lapse
word: faux pas
sense: a lapse
word: gaffe
sense: a lapse
word: lapse
sense: a lapse
word: mistake
sense: a lapse
word: slip
sense: a lapse
word: stumble
sense: a lapse
word: thinko
sense: passive in a lesbian relationship
word: ruffle
sense: sweet or feel-good fanfiction
word: schmoop
Derived terms: autofluff
ball of fluff
bit of fluff
bumfluff
defluff
duckfluff
floof
fluffball
fluff bunny
fluffernutter
Fluffernutter
fluffery
fluffhead
fluffiness
fluffless
flufflike
flufftail
fluff-up
fluffy
Local Fluff
marshmallow fluff
Related terms: dust
lint
plumage