1790, variant of floow "wooly substance, down, nap" (1580s), perhaps from Flem. vluwe, from Fr. velu "shaggy, hairy," from L. vellus "fleece," or L. villus "tuft of hair" (see velvet). OED suggests fluff as "an onomatopoeic modification" of floow, "imitating the action of
puffing away some light substance." The verb meaning "to shake into a soft mass" is first attested 1885; meaning "make a mistake" is from 1884, originally in theater slang. Slang bit of fluff "young woman" is from 1903. The marshmallow confection Fluff dates to c.1920 in Massachusetts, U.S.
n. nonsense; irrelevant stuff; hype. : Cut out the fluff and talk straight.
tv. & in. to make an error; to do something incorrectly. : Todd fluffs his lines in the same place every night.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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