▪ I. fluke, n.1
(fluːk)
Forms: 1–2 floc, flooc, 5–6 floke, (5 flewke,) 6–9 flook(e, 6–7 flouk(e, (6 Sc. fluike), 8–9 fleuk, flowk, (8 dial. fleak, fluck, 9 dial. fluik), 4– fluke.
[OE. flóc str. (of uncertain gender), cognate with ON. flóke wk. masc.; related by ablaut to Ger. flach flat.]
1. A flat fish, esp. the common flounder, Pleuronectes Flesus.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 802 Platisa, flooc. a 1000 ælfric Colloq. in Wr.-Wülcker 94 Fage and floc and lopystran and fela swylces. 14.. Nom. ibid. 705 Hic pelanius, a flewke. 1478 Botoner Itin. (Nasmith 1778) 291 Homines possunt piscare..de flokes. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §55 And thou cut the lyuer [of a rotten shepe] therin wylbe lytell quicknes lyke flokes. 1602 Carew Cornwall 106 b, Wry-mouthed Flooke. 1744 Preston in Phil. Trans. XLIII. 61/2 In the Sea they catch..Flukes, Trouts, &c. 1790 Mrs. A. Wheeler Westmld. Dial. 28 I'll gie the a Fleak and a Pot-ful a Saur Milk. 1819 Scott Antiq. xi, I'll bid you a shilling for the fluke and the cock-padle. |
b. as a type of flatness.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1088 Flatt mowthede as a fluke. a 1605 Montgomerie Flyting w. Polwart 111 I's fell thee like a fluike, flatlings on the flure. 1804 R. Anderson Cumberld. Ball. 106 Her feet flat and braid, as big fluiks. |
c. slang. = flat n.3 13.
| 1804 Sporting Mag. XXIII. 201 The unguarded flukes, whom they can inveigle to play. |
2. A parasitic trematoid worm, of several species, found esp. in the livers of sheep, so called from its resemblance to a fluke or flounder.
| [Cf. quot. 1523 in sense 1]. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. v. §2. 123 Insects..whose shape doth somewhat resemble a Flounder, found..in..the liver of several of the Ruminant kind..Fluke. 1755 Nicholls in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 247 A small flat worm, resembling a sole..is found in the gall-duct, by the butchers term'd flooks. 1845 Budd Dis. Liver 399 Fourteen flukes were found..in the duodenum of a Lascar. 1884 in Chamb. Jrnl. 3 May 278/2. |
3. A variety of kidney potato, perh. so called from its shape.
| 1868 N. & Q. Ser. iv. I. 100. 1874 E. H. Ruddock Text-bk. Mod. Med. (1893) 38 The best sorts [of potatoes] are..the Forty-fold, and the Fluke. 1884 in Chesh. Gloss. |
4. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib. (sense 2), as fluke-disease, fluke-worm; b. instrumental (sense 2), as fluke-infested adj.; c. similative (sense 1), as fluke-mouthed adj. Also fluke-rake, a rake with triangular prongs used for taking flukes; fluke-wort (see quot. 1861).
| 1884 Chamb. Jrnl. 3 May 278/1 This disease—Liver-fluke, *Fluke Disease, Liver-rot, as it is variously termed. |
| Ibid. 278/2 The bodies of *fluke-infested sheep. |
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2780 Thow wenes for to flay us, *ffloke-mouthed schrewe. |
| 1766 Brookes Art Angling 85 In the hot Months, there are great Quantities caught with the *Fluke-Rake. |
| 1794–6 E. Darwin Zoon. (1801) IV. 250 When the *fleuk-worm is preying on the substance of their livers. 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 395 Fluke-worms are oftentimes very numerous in the viscera of quadrupeds. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal. ii. cxliii. §3. 424 In Northfolke it [Water Pennywoort] is called *Flowkwoort. 1861 Mrs. Lankester Wild Flowers 61 Marsh Pennywort..is also known as..Fluke-wort, and Sheep's bane. These..names it has obtained on account of its being supposed to produce the rot..in animals that feed upon it. |
▪ II. fluke, n.2
(fluːk)
Forms: 6–8 flook(e, 6 Sc. fluik, 7 flouke, (flouck), 8– fluke.
[of uncertain origin; possibly a transferred use of fluke n.1, from resemblance of shape; cf. the inadmissible suggestion in the following quot.
1886 R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log x. 200 The name ‘fluke’ or ‘flowk’ well expresses the shape of the flounder, which is that of the fluke of an old-fashioned anchor.
See also flue n.3 2.]
1. One of ‘the broad triangular plates of iron on each arm of the anchor, inside the bills or extreme points, which, having entered the ground, hold the ship’ (Admiral Smyth).
| 1561 Eden Arte Nauig. A iij b, The Thirreni founde the vse of the anker of one graspe or flooke. 1600 Holland Livy xxxvii. xxx. 962 Her owne anker, which by one of the floukes tooke fast hold. 1743 Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 115 All Hands haul'd..which weigh'd the Grapenel, but streighten'd one of the Flukes. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 18 Among the waste and lumber of the shore..Anchors of rusty fluke. |
b. The barbed head of a lance, arrow, etc. Cf. fluked 1629. Also U.S. ‘one of the barbs of a harpoon or toggle-iron; a flue’ (Cent. Dict.).
| a 1605 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxviii. 58 And eviry shaft..To haif als mony heeds, And evirie head als mony huikis, And evirie huik als mony fluiks. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage v. xvii. (1614) 544 A great launce couered with gold and the fluke set with stones. 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) I. v. 33 The one [arrow] with long flukes or barbs. |
c. A name for various instruments resembling the prec. in shape: see quots.
| 1841 Hartshorne Salop. Ant. Gloss., Fluke, a lancet used for letting blood from horses. 1849 Weale Dict. Terms, Fluke, in mining, the head of a charger; an instrument used for cleansing the hole previous to blasting. 1878 Cumbld. Gloss. Supp., Fleukk, the web of the plough sock. |
2. pl. ‘The two parts which constitute the large triangular tail of the whale’ (Adm. Smyth). to turn or peak the flukes: of a whale, to go under (see quot. 1839); hence transf. (Naut. slang) to go to bed, ‘turn in’.
| 1725 Dudley in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 256 While young, and carried by the Dam on the Flukes of their Tails. 1839 T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale 44 The flukes are then lifted high into the air, and the animal..descends perpendicularly..this act..is called by whalers ‘peaking the flukes’. 1851 H. Melville Whale iii. 21 It's getting dreadful late, you had better be turning flukes..it's a nice bed. 1860 Hartwig Sea & Wond. vi. 79 The tail-fin, or ‘flukes’. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as (light) fluke plough; fluke-chain, -rope, a chain or rope which is passed round the flukes of a whale to secure it when caught.
| 1851 H. Melville Whale lxxxii. 399 The whale..was secured there by the stiffest *fluke-chains. |
| 1775 G. Washington Writ. (1889) II. 461 Get 2 light *fluke Plows. |
Hence fluked a.1, having flukes.
| 1629 Z. Boyd Last Battell I. 14 Death..with its sting, like a flooked Dart, for to pierce thorow the heart of men. 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 96 Three or four fluked anchors are to be constructed. |
▪ III. fluke, n.3 colloq.
(fluːk)
[of unknown etymology. Possibly of Eng. dialectal origin; cf. ‘fluke, a guess’ (Whitby Gloss. 1876).]
In Billiard-playing, A successful stroke made by accident or chance. Hence gen. a lucky stroke, an unexpected success; a piece of good luck, esp. in phrase by a fluke. Also attrib. a fluke of wind: a chance breeze.
| 1857 N. & Q. Ser. ii. IV. 208/1 In playing at billiards..Another term is, ‘He made a flook (or fluke)’. 1861 H. Kingsley Ravenshoe v, That was rather a fluke, was it not? 1868 Yates Rock Ahead i. vi, The most unexpected fluke at trente et quarante. 1882 Bain J. S. Mill 194 The transfer of power has gone on..by flukes and leaps in the dark. 1889 H. F. Wood Englishman Rue Caïn x, Whose run⁓away horse he had stopped..by the merest fluke. 1906 ‘Q’ Mayor of Troy x. 139 The mass huddled together, rubbing flanks, swaying this way and that in the pressure of panic as corn is swayed by flukes of summer wind. 1909 Daily Chron. 12 Oct. 8/1 It was no fluke victory. 1955 Times 3 Aug. 4/5 Because of the calms and flukes of wind yesterday numbers of vessels retired from their respective events. |
Hence ˈflukeless a., without a fluke.
| 1895 Westm. Gaz. 5 Jan. 7/2 It was a faultless, flukeless performance on a standard table. |
▪ IV. fluke, n.4 dial.
(fluːk)
[app. a. ON. flóke of same meaning: see flock n.2]
(See quots.)
| 16.. T. More in Ray's N.C. Words (E.D.S.) note s.v. Flukes, locks of hair. Salop. 1847 Halliwell, Fluke, waste cotton. Lanc. |
▪ V. fluke, v.1
(fluːk)
[f. fluke n.2]
1. intr. Of a whale: To use the flukes, to ‘peak the flukes’: see fluke n.2 2.
| 1840 F. D. Bennett Whaling Voy. 6 note, There she blow-o-s! Th-e-r-e again! Flukes! 1892 R. Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 206 Where the scared whale flukes in flame! |
b. transf. in phrase (to go) fluking or all (-a-) fluking (see quot. 1867).
| 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxviii, We arrived on the following day, having gone ‘all fluking’. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. Flukes, From the power of these [flukes of a whale] the phrase obtained among whalers of fluking or all-a-fluking, when running with a fresh free wind. |
2. trans. In Whaling. a. To disable the flukes of (a whale) by spading. b. To fasten (a whale) by means of a chain or rope. (Cent. Dict.)
▪ VI. fluke, v.2
(fluːk)
Also flook.
[f. fluke n.3]
1. trans. Billiard-playing: To hit or pocket (a ball) by a fluke; to make (a stroke) by a fluke.
| 1881 Times 14 Jan. 8/2 Bennett..tried for a cannon, but fluked the white, and..ran out the winner by 90 points. 1888 Sportsm. 20 Dec. 4/4 Fortune once more assisted Mitchell, who, in trying to make a red loser, fluked a cannon. |
2. transf. To get (in) or obtain by a fluke. Also intr.
| 1885 Pall Mall G. 18 June 2 On the chance of crowding or fluking in one [picture] he will send the whole eight. 1889 Ibid. 2 May 7/3 It is very questionable whether the artist is really any better off for fluking {pstlg}500 or {pstlg}1000 now and again for a picture which is worth {pstlg}50. 1892 Ibid. 25 Aug. 1/3 He wanted to fluke a last success. 1897 N. Gould Seeing him Through xiii, Even if he managed to fluke home in this trial. 1904 Daily Chron. 5 May 7/2 Even if Mr. P. F. Warner's XI. were fluked out of the game. 1929 Star 21 Aug. 16/2 Marvellous handicap horses that may fluke the City and Suburban. |
Hence ˈfluking vbl. n., ˈfluking ppl. a., characterized by a fluke or flukes. ˈflukist, one who succeeds rather by chance than by skill.
| 1865 Daily Tel. 21 Aug. 4 The sensation which was created last year by the Miner's fluking victory over Blair Athol. 1881 Society 23 July 24/1 Time..will show whether Mr. Beck is a lucky flukist or a really good shot. 1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal III. viii. 155 She would play that fluking game which she most affected at billiards. 1893 G. D. Leslie Lett. Marco xxi. 142 There is a lot of fluking in the art..when we once begin to try and make a good picture it is all up with it. |