Also ? 5 flostre, 9 dial. flowster. [This and the related sb. closely resemble in sense the mod.Icel. flaustr hurry, bustle, flaustra to bustle. Cf. BLUSTER v.] .
† 1. ? trans. ? To excite, stimulate. Obs.
1422. [see FLUSTERING vbl. sb.].
2. trans. To flush or excite with drink, make half-tipsy.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. iii. 60.
| Three else of Cyprus, Noble swelling Spirites, | |
| (That hold their Honours in a wary distance, | |
| The very Elements of this Warrelike Isle), | |
| Haue I to night fluster’d with flowing Cups, | |
| And they Watch too. |
1731. Fielding, Lett. Writers, II. v. That unlucky rogue, my nephew Commons, who hath taken me to the tavern, and, I protest, almost flustered me.
1851. Thackeray, Eng. Hum., iii. (1876), 233. Some [letters] are composed in a high state of vinous excitement, when his [Steele’s] head is flustered with burgundy, and his heart abounds with amorous warmth for his darling Prue.
3. intr. To be excited or eager; to move with agitation or confusion; to bustle.
1613. F. Robarts, Rev. Gospel, 136. Who will not fluster to be one?
1636. H. Burton, Div. Trag. lately Acted, 27. Suddainly it thundering was seene a blacke ball come tumbling downe a hill neere by: which tooke its course directly into the Church, there it flew into the bell free and first slew him, that tolled the bell, then it flustered about the Church and hurted divers of them, and at last bursting.
1808. Jamieson, Fluster, to be in a state of bustle.
1865. G. Meredith, R. Fleming, xliii. (1890), 369. He broke out upon Mrs. Sumfit: ‘Now, then, mother!’ which caused her to fluster guiltily.
1879. Cornh. Mag., XXXIX. June, 699. When the Prefect had finished speaking, she gave a freezing bow as a hint to the deputation to depart; and they flustered out, abashed like poultry who have been played upon with garden-hose.
1893. R. Kipling, Many Invent., 16. A little bit before morning the Dutch gunboat come flustering up, and the two ships stood together watching the lights burn out and out, till there was nothing left ’cept Flores Straits, all green and wet, and a dozen wreck-buoys, and Wurlee Light.
† b. Of seed: To shoot up quickly; to push.
1650. T. Bayly, Herba Parietis, 123. Both were exceeding glad to see the corne so fluster upon the ground that was sowed by their hands.
c. To bluster, swagger. d. dial. See quot.
1661. [see FLUSTERING ppl. a.].
1876. Whitby Gloss., Flowster or fluster, to flourish or flutter in showy colours.
4. trans. To flurry, confuse.
1724. R. Falconer, Voy. (1769), 267. I had been here four Days, and had given over all Hopes of my Liberty, and began to call together my scattered Thoughts, that were flustered upon that Occasion.
1760. A. Murphy, Way to Keep Him, I. ii. Madam, if I was as you, I would not fluster myself about it.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxxiv. The aged housekeeper was no less flustered and hurried in obeying the numerous and contradictory commands of her mistress.
1870. Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. lii. 9. Men must not too much fluster us; our strength is to sit still.
Hence Flustering vbl. sb. and ppl. a. Also Flusterment, the state of being flustered.
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. (E.E.T.S.), 129. The flostyrynge of the losengers that the[e] Plesyn, thow sholdyst gretly drede.
1661–98. South, Serm., III. 263. The Philosophers of his Time, the Flustring Vain-glorious Greeks, who pretended so much to magnify, and even Adore the Wisdom they professed.
1804. Bewick, Brit. Birds, II. 135. When it [the coot] is very closely pursued, and compelled to rise, it does this with much flustering and apparent difficulty.
1895. T. G. Selby, Self-Possession and Effectual Service, in Expositor, April, 296. Nervous embarrassment, inability to bring our best gifts into action at the call of a providential opportunity, palpitations, flusterments, hesitancies seem to turn our message into farce and dumb show.
