flimsy, a. and n.
(ˈflɪmzɪ)
Also 8 flimsey, -zy.
[First recorded in 18th c.; possibly (as Todd conjectured) an onomatopœic formation suggested by film. For the ending cf. tipsy, bumpsy; also limpsy, given by Webster as a U.S. synonym of flimsy.]
A. adj.
1. In physical sense: Destitute of strength or solidity; easily destroyed; slight, frail, unsubstantial.
| 1702 in Kersey. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Flimsy, limber, slight. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. iv. 141 The flesh [of the ostrich] is hard, black, and flimsy. 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 495 Spun as fine As bloated spiders draw the flimsy line. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab v. 28 To screen With flimsy veil of justice..Its unattractive lineaments. 1852 Thackeray Esmond ii. iv, There comes a day when the roused public indignation kicks their flimsy edifice down. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. iii. 109 The jewels have remained after the flimsy embroidery..has fallen into decay. |
† b. Of persons or their constitutions: Frail, ‘delicate’. Obs.
| 1741–2 H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann (1834) I. xviii. 61, I have a very flimsy constitution. 1753 Chesterfield Lett. IV. 195, I have not yet quite got over my last violent attack, and am weak and flimsy. |
2. In immaterial sense: Destitute of solid value, slight, trivial, paltry.
| [1735 Pope Prol. Sat. 94 Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines!] 1756–82 J. Warton Ess. Pope (ed. 4) I. iii. 203 Walsh was in general a flimsy and frigid writer. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 201 However flimsey this title..may appear at this distance to us. 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. 109 The perverse and flimsy style of verbal disputation which had infected all learning. 1845 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 21 This flimsy hypocrisy, by which he..sought to pass himself off as the victim of others' injustice. 1880 L. Stephen Pope vii. 171 A flimsy hypothesis learnt from Bolingbroke. |
| absol. 1794 Godwin Cal. Williams 35 Choosing the flimsy before the substantial. |
b. With reference to mental or moral attributes: Frivolous, trifling, superficial.
| 1827 Scott Surg. Dau. xii, But it was thine, flimsy villain, to execute the device which a bolder genius planned. 1847 L. Hunt Men, Women & B. II. ix. 195 Poor, flimsy, witty, wise, foolish..Horace Walpole. 1853 Lynch Self-Improv. iii. 66 The flimsy individual who has read fifty novels in a year, but nothing else. |
B. n.
1. slang. A bank-note; also, paper-money.
| 1824 P. Egan Boxiana IV. 443 Martin produced some ‘flimsies’; and said he would fight on Tuesday next. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg., Merch. Venice, English Exchequer⁓bills..the right sort of ‘flimsy’, all signed by Monteagle. 1845 Alb. Smith Fort. Scatterg. Fam. xxxii. (1887) 108 I'll stand a five pun' flimsy for the piece. |
2. A flimsy or thin kind of paper: esp. that used by reporters for the purpose of multiplying copies; hence, reporters' ‘copy’. Also, a sheet of thin paper, esp. that used on a typewriter for taking carbon copies; a document on thin paper. Also attrib.
| 1857 J. E. Ritchie Night Side London 202 The reporters—or, rather, the penny-a-liners—who write on ‘flimsey’, and leave ‘copy’ on spec. at all the daily paper offices. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 30 Sub-editors are now hard at work cutting down ‘flimsy’. 1872 Besant & Rice Ready Money Mortiboy xxiii, I'm afraid I shan't have enough flimsy. 1888 C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 44 Flimsy, thin paper, such as..telegraph forms. 1892 Pall Mall G. 13 Apr. 6/3 The Post Office telegraph ‘flimsy’ messages..are now to be multiplied by means of the typewriter. 1909 Daily Chron. 10 Mar. 7/6 He had sent to the defendants ‘flimsies’ of the original reports. 1916 J. Buchan Greenmantle i. 1, I had just finished breakfast..when I got Bullivant's telegram... I flung him the flimsy with the blue strip pasted down on it. 1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 50 Flimsy, an officer's report at the end of a commission or when leaving a man-of-war. 1930 D. L. Sayers Strong Poison xiv. 175 She dragged the cover off the typewriter..shook the top sheet, carbons, and flimsies together as a terrier shakes a rat. 1952 M. Tripp Faith is Windsock vi. 95 Craig scrambled among his flimsies and maps. Ibid. xi. 163 Wafer-like sheets of paper with transparent celluloid covering, known as flimsies, were distributed by the bombing leader. 1958 M. Dickens Man Overboard xiii. 193 The character references supplied by the Flimsies of his Confidential Reports. 1960 ‘N. Shute’ Trustee from Toolroom iii. 47 ‘I told you that I had an answer to that cable...’ He passed the flimsy to Keith. |
Hence ˈflimsy v. trans., to write on ‘flimsy’.
| 1886 Daily News 17 July, Had the questions to be copied out?—Yes; and the answers to be flimsied. |