subs. (nautical).—1. A ship’s steward.
2. (American).—An ignorant dabbler in stock; an inexperienced jobber.
1841. F. JACKSON, A Week in Wall Street, pp. 90–1. He [a broker who had met with heavy losses] muttered to himself ‘I’m in a bear-trap—this won’t do. The dogs will ‘come over’ me. I shall be mulct in a loss. But I’ve got time—I’ll turn the scale, I’ll help the bulls, operate for a rise, and draw in the FLUNKIES.’
3. (American university).—One that makes a complete failure in a recitation; one who FLUNKS (q.v.).
1854. Yale Literary Magazine, Nov., xx. 75, ‘The College Ghost.’
| I bore him safe through Horace, | |
| Saved him from the FLUNKEY’S doom. |
4. (colloquial).—A man-servant, especially one in livery. Hence, by implication, a parasite or TOADY (q.v.). Fr., un larbin.
1848. THACKERAY, The Book of Snobs, ch. v. You who have no toadies; you whom no cringing FLUNKEYS or shopmen bow out of doors.
Whence, FLUNKEYISM = blind worship of rank, birth, or riches. Fr., la larbinerie.
1857. J. E. RITCHIE, The Night Side of London, p. 23. Our trading classes, becoming richer and more sunk in FLUNKEYISM every day.
