fluster
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈflʌstə/
ipa: /ˈflʌstəɹ/
rhymes: -ʌstə(ɹ)
Forms: form: flusters
form: flustering
form: flustered
form: flustered
Etymology: The verb is probably from Middle English *flostren, *flostre (implied in flostring, flostrynge (“agitation; blustering”)) from a Scandinavian (North Germanic) language; compare Icelandic flaustr (“a bustle; a hurry”), flaustra (“to bustle”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Senses: examples: text: The aged housekeeper was no less flustered and hurried in obeying the numerous and contradictory commands of her mistress, […]
ref: 1816, [Walter Scott], chapter V, in The Antiquary. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 112:
text: Weel, Sam'l, I d'na want to fluster ye, but she's been ower lang wi' Lisbeth Fargus no to hae learnt her ways.
ref: 1888, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “The Courting of T’Nowhead’s Bell”, in Auld Licht Idylls, London: Hodder and Stoughton, […], →OCLC, page 186:
synonyms: word: agitate
word: bewilder
word: addle
word: baffle
word: lose
word: stick
word: stump
word: baffound
word: bamboozle
word: bedevil
word: befuddle
word: throw
word: bemuse
word: bewilder
word: bumfuzzle
word: complicate
word: confound
word: confuddle
word: confuse
word: confuzzle
word: dazzle
word: discombobulate
word: disconcert
word: dumbfound
word: ferhoodle
word: flabagast
word: flabbergast
word: flabbergaster
word: flurry
word: fluster
word: flummox
word: fuddle
word: jumble
word: knot
word: mix up
word: perplex
word: puzzle
glosses: To throw (someone) into a state of confusion or panic; to befuddle, to confuse.
glosses: To make emotionally overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.
glosses: To make emotionally overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.
To turn on, to make horny.
examples: text: Three lads of Cypres, noble ſvvelling ſpirits, / That hold their honour, in a vvary diſtance, / The very Elements of this vvarlike Iſle, / Haue I tonight fluſtred vvith flovving cups, / And the vvatch too: novv mongſt this flocke of drunkards, / I am to put our Caſsio in ſome action, / That may offend the Iſle; […]
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 31:
text: His practice of flustering himself daily with claret was hardly considered as a fault by his contemporaries.
ref: 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XX, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume IV, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 464:
text: [S]ome [letters] are composed in a high state of vinous excitement, when his head is flustered with Burgundy, and his heart abounds with amorous warmth for his darling Prue: some are under the influence of the dismal headache and repentance next morning: […]
ref: 1853, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “Lecture the Third. Steele.”, in The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century. […], London: Smith, Elder, & Co. […]; Bombay, Maharashtra: Smith, Taylor, & Co., →OCLC, page 139:
glosses: To make (someone) feel flushed and hot through drinking alcoholic beverages; also, to make (someone) slightly drunk or tipsy.
examples: text: He seemed to fluster when speaking in front of many people.
text: [H]e broke out upon Mrs. Sumfit: "Now, then, mother!" which caused her to fluster guiltily, […]
ref: 1865, George Meredith, “Rhoda Pledges Her Hand”, in Rhoda Fleming. […], volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 195:
text: A little bit before morning the Dutch gunboat come flustering up, and the two ships stood together watching the lights burn out and out, till there was nothing left 'cept Flores Straits, all green and wet, and a dozen wreck-buoys, and Wurlee Light.
ref: 1893, Rudyard Kipling, “The Disturber of Traffic”, in Many Inventions, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 16:
glosses: To be agitated and confused; to bustle.
glosses: To become overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.
glosses: To become overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.
To become turned on, to become horny.
glosses: To catch attention; to be showy or splendid.
examples: text: And the Apoſtle [Paul] ſeems here moſt peculiarly to have directed this Encomium of the Gospel, as a Defiance to the Philoſophers of his Time, the Fluſtring Vain-glorious Greeks, vvho pretended ſo much to magnify, and even Adore the VViſdom they profeſſed, […]
ref: 1694 May 9 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar); first published 1698, Robert South, “Christianity Mysterious, and the Wisdom of God in Making it so, Proved in a Sermon Preached at Westminster-Abbey, April 29. 1694.”, in Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions, volume III, London: […] Tho[mas] Warren for Thomas Bennet […], →OCLC, page 263:
glosses: To boast or brag noisily; to bluster, to swagger.
glosses: Of a seed: to produce a shoot quickly.
Synonyms: faze
Derived terms: word: flusteration
word: flustered
word: flusterer
word: flustering
word: flusterment
word: flustery
word: flustrate
word: flustration
word: unflusterable
word: unflustered