Flummery \Flum"mer*y\, 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.]
1. 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.
--Locke.
[1913 Webster]
2. Something insipid, or not worth having; empty compliment;
trash; unsubstantial talk of writing.
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The flummery of modern criticism. --J. Morley.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sowens \Sow"ens\ (? or ?), n. pl. [Scottish; cf. AS. se['a]w
juice, glue, paste.]
A nutritious article of food, much used in Scotland, made
from the husk of the oat by a process not unlike that by
which common starch is made; -- called flummery in England.
[Written also sowans, and sowins.]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
flummery
n 1: a bland custard or pudding especially of oatmeal
2: meaningless ceremonies and flattery [syn: mummery]
WordNet (r) 2.0
52 Moby Thesaurus words for "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,
waffling
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
mummery
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