flummery

[ fluhm-uh-ree ]
See synonyms for flummery on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural flum·mer·ies.
  1. oatmeal or flour boiled with water until thick.

  2. fruit custard or blancmange usually thickened with cornstarch.

  1. any of various dishes made of flour, milk, eggs, sugar, etc.

  2. complete nonsense; foolish humbug.

Origin of flummery

1
1615–25; <Welsh llymru, with ending assimilated to -ery

Words Nearby flummery

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use flummery in a sentence

  • Oh, but surely if we have to call ourselves Wurzel-flummery it would count as earned income.

    First Plays | A. A. Milne
  • The condition is that with this money—fifty thousand pounds—I take the name of—ah—Wurzel-flummery.

    First Plays | A. A. Milne
  • My dear Mr. Crawshaw, you didn't think—you didn't really think that anybody had been called Wurzel-flummery before?

    First Plays | A. A. Milne
  • The flummery boys and ever so many more of the party are at the front with their regiments.

  • Money was squandered on useless court-flummery while men were toiling sixteen hours a day for bread.

    Richard Wagner | John F. Runciman

British Dictionary definitions for flummery

flummery

/ (ˈflʌmərɪ) /


nounplural -meries
  1. informal meaningless flattery; nonsense

  2. mainly British a cold pudding of oatmeal, etc

Origin of flummery

1
C17: from Welsh llymru

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012