Word Study
flummery
CIDE DICTIONARY
flummery, n. [W. llumru, or llumruwd, a kind of food made of oatmeal steeped in water until it has turned sour, fr. llumrig harsh, raw, crude, fr. llum sharp, severe.].
- A light kind of food, formerly made of flour or meal; a sort of pap. [1913 Webster]"Milk and flummery are very fit for children." [1913 Webster]
- Something insipid, or not worth having; empty compliment; trash; unsubstantial talk of writing. [1913 Webster]"The flummery of modern criticism." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
flummery, n. (pl. -ies)
1 empty compliments; trifles; nonsense.
2 a sweet dish made with beaten eggs, sugar, etc.
1 empty compliments; trifles; nonsense.
2 a sweet dish made with beaten eggs, sugar, etc.
Etymology
Welsh llymru, of unkn. orig.
THESAURUS
flummery
absurdity, amphigory, babble, babblement, balderdash, bibble-babble, blabber, blather, bombast, claptrap, double-talk, drivel, drool, fiddle-faddle, fiddledeedee, folderol, fudge, fustian, gabble, galimatias, gammon, gibber, gibberish, gibble-gabble, gobbledygook, hocus-pocus, humbug, jabber, jargon, mumbo jumbo, narrishkeit, niaiserie, nonsense, pack of nonsense, palaver, prate, prattle, rant, rigamarole, rigmarole, rodomontade, rubbish, skimble-skamble, stuff and nonsense, stultiloquence, trash, trumpery, twaddle, twattle, twiddle-twaddle, vaporing, wafflingROGET THESAURUS
flummery
Flattery
N flattery, adulation, gloze, blandishment, blandiloquence, cajolery, fawning, wheedling, captation, coquetry, obsequiousness, sycophancy, flunkeyism, toadeating, tuft- hunting, snobbishness, incense, honeyed words, flummery, bunkum, buncombe, blarney, placebo, butter, soft soap, soft sawder, rose water, voice of the charmer, mouth honor, lip homage, euphemism, unctuousness, flattering, adulatory, mealy-mouthed, honey-mouthed, honeyed, smooth, smooth-tongued, soapy, oily, unctuous, blandiloquent, specious, fine-spoken, fair spoken, plausible, servile, sycophantic, fulsome, courtierly, courtier-like, ad captandum.Unmeaningness
N meaninglessness, unmeaningness, scrabble, empty sound, dead letter, vox et praeterea nihil, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, nonsense, utter nonsense, gibberish, jargon, jabber, mere words, hocus-pocus, fustian, rant, bombast, balderdash, palaver, flummery, verbiage, babble, baverdage, baragouin, platitude, niaiserie, inanity, flap-doodle, rigmarole, rodomontade, truism, nugae canorae, twaddle, twattle, fudge, trash, garbage, humbug, poppy-cock, stuff, stuff and nonsense, bosh, rubbish, moonshine, wish-wash, fiddle- faddle, absurdity, vagueness, boilerplate, clich_¬, unmeaning, meaningless, senseless, nonsensical, void of sense, inexpressive, unexpressive, vacant, not significant, insignificant, trashy, washy, trumpery, trivial, fiddle-faddle, twaddling, quibbling, unmeant, not expressed, tacit, inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable.For further exploring for "flummery" in Webster Dictionary Online