▪ I. flim-flam, n. and a.
(ˈflɪmflæm)
Also 6 ? flym flawe.
[One of the many onomatopœic reduplications expressive of contempt; cf. fidfad, skimble-skamble, whimwham. Possibly based on a Scandinavian word which may have existed in some Eng. dialects; cf. ON. flim a lampoon, flimska mockery, flimta to flout.]
A. n.
1. A piece of nonsense or idle talk; a trifle, a conceit. Cf. flam n.1 2.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 19 She maketh earnest matters of euery flymflam. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet E ij b, Trusse vp thy packet of flim flams, & roage to some countrey Faire, or read it among boyes in the belfrie. a 1634 Randolph Poems, To Mem. Brother-in-Law (1681) B iv b, Such jig-like flim-flams being got to make The Rabble laugh. 1885 L'pool Daily Post 11 May 8/7 Grossmith..crowds his picture with all kinds of flim-flams of the drawing-room. |
2. A paltry attempt at deception; a contemptible trick or pretence; a piece of humbug. Cf. flam n.1 3.
| c 1538 in State Papers (1834) II. iii. 552 He and his fellawes were sent hither..but for a flim flawe to stoppe the ymagination of the Kynge and Counsaile in that behalf. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 14 He gave me this flim flam, that I had persuadid him sumwhat. 1600 Holland Livy vi. xvi. (1609) 227 The Dictatour commanded him to leave off these foolish flimflams & trifling shifts. 1673 Cowley Cutter Coleman St. iv. iv, I'll ha' none of his Flim-flams, and his May-be's. 1805 D'Israeli (title), Flim-Flams, or the Life and Errors of my Uncle. 1880 Disraeli Endym. xci, All these habitual flim-flams are, in general, the airy creatures of inaccuracy and exaggeration. |
3. collect. Nonsense, rubbish; humbug, deception.
| c 1570 Marr. Wit & Science ii. i, A longe tale of a man in the moone, With such a circumstaunce and such flym⁓flam. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xviii. xii, I tell thee 'tis all flimflam. 1890 W. A. Wallace Only a Sister xxxi, They may be the wanderings of his dotage, and flim-flam after all. |
4. The action of ‘flim-flamming’; in quot. attrib.
| 1894 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 2 May 9/7 She notified the police, but the flim-flam artist was far away. Ibid. 17 Nov. 9/7 His success in the ‘flim-flam’ game. |
B. adj. [Developed from an attrib. use of the n.; cf. fancy a.] Frivolous, idle, vain, nonsensical; also, deceptive, fictitious, sham.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. II. 14/1 His slanderous reports are vnderpropt with flim-flam surmises. 1631 Mabbe Celestina i. 12 She will tell you a thousand flim-flam tales. 1685 Crowne Sir C. Nice iii. Dram. Wks. 1874 III. 300 Do you think I regard your flimflam story o' the church? 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Don't thee tell up no such flim-flam stuff, else nobody ont never harky to thee. |
▪ II. flim-flam, v.
(ˈflɪmflæm)
[f. prec. n.]
trans. a. To humbug, to beguile into (something). b. U.S. To cheat (a person) out of (money) ‘while he is making change for a bill, by distracting or confusing him, so that he pays out more than the proper sum’ (Stand. Dict.).
| 1660 Fisher Rustick's Alarm Wks. (1679) 307 None but Fools will by thy flood of Words be flim-flam'd into thy Faith. 1890 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 26 July, Sent [to jail]..for flimflaming a..saloon-keeper out of some money. 1903 O. Kildare My Mamie Rose 72 ‘Flim-flamming’... Doubling a bill in a number of them and counting each end of it as one separate bill. 1904 E. Robins Magnetic North ii. 144 But I didn't know you'd get flim-flammed out o' your boots. 1911 H. Quick Yellowstone Nights xi. 290 Financial ingenuity has found a way to flim flam the devil himself. 1929 D. Hammett Dain Curse (1930) xii. 127 His success in flimflamming his followers had gone to his head. 1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice x. 117 We've been flim-flammed, Cora. 1963 Punch 1 May 620/1 Marketing practices that smacked of flimflamming the public. 1971 Publishers' Weekly 22 Mar. 33 One expects somehow to be flim-flammed on a vacuum cleaner. |
Hence flim-flammer U.S. So flim-flammery.
| 1881 Nat. Police Gaz. 12 Nov. 10/2 Among the numberless small swindles of the metropolis there is none more curious than that of the flim-flammer. 1894 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 31 Jan., The New York flim-flammers and green goods men..are still out of the clutches of the United Secret Service. 1898 W. J. Locke Idols xiv. 201 Sick of your flim⁓flammeries of philosophy. 1960 Observer 17 Jan. 12/6, I got a taste of his flimflammery the first time I met him. 1968 Sat. Rev. 27 Apr. 62/1 Peddlers, guides, flim-flammers and other friends of the tourist are forbidden there. |