a. [f. FLUFF sb.1 + -Y1.]
1. Consisting of or resembling fluff; of soft, downy texture.
1825. Jamieson, Fluffy, applied to any powdery substance that can be easily put in motion or blown away; as to ashes, hair-powder, meal, &c.
1860. Thackeray, Lovel, ii. A great hulking Bluecoat boy, with fluffy whiskers, spoke to me not long since, in as awful bass voice.
1863. Miss Braddon, Eleanor’s Vict., I. v. 106. Eleanor pointed to the open sashes of the entresol: the fluffy worsted curtains were drawn, but the windows were wide open.
1887. R. N. Carey, Uncle Max, xiii. 103. I grew rather out of patience when Lady Betty first lifted her eye-glass and stared at me, with the air of a non-comprehending kitten, and then buried her face in a very fluffy little muff in a fit of uncontrolled merriment.
b. Of timber: (see quot.)
1888. Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Engin. Timber is said to be fluffy when the sawdust is stringy, and moist and greasy instead of granular and sharp.
2. Of persons: Covered with fluff. Of plants and animals: Covered with down, soft hairs, feathers, or fur; downy.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, lix. Fluffy and snuffy strangers stare into the kitchen-range as curiously as into the attic clothes-press.
1856. F. E. Paget, Owlet Owlst., 110. That dreary-looking man with a fluffy effect about his head, as though it were sprinkled with the contents of a pillow.
1862. H. Marryat, Year in Sweden, I. 75. The eye is satiated with white and yellow, the road-side bright with the fluffy blue anemone.
1863. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia, 259. I hope these poor little fluffy things [rabbits] will not meet any rattlesnakes on their way back to the woods.
1879. Hesba Stretton, Needle’s Eye, I. 145. The fluffy yellow chickens were stirred up from under Snowdrop’s wings to show themselves.
3. Slang. a. Drunk and incapable (see quot. 1886 s.v. FLUFFINESS). b. Theatr. Liable to forget one’s ‘lines.’
1885. Referee, 26 July, 3/2. One or two others were … what actors call fluffy in their lines.
1893. Pall Mall G., 17 Jan., 7/2. After the chorus is perfect, the principals are ‘fluffy,’ especially when the principals are fashionable amateurs.
4. quasi-sb. A fluffy animal.
1889. Daily News, 23 Oct., 7/1. Strictly smooth haired creatures are at a disadvantage among the fluffies.
