From earlier floow (“woolly substance, down, nap, lint”), also spelt flough, flue, and flew, from West Flemish vluwe, of uncertain ultimate origin: * Compare Old English flōh (“that which is flown off, fragment, piece”); see flaw * Possibly representing a blend of flue + puff; compare Middle Dutch vloe, or perhaps onomatopoeic; compare dialectal English floose, flooze, fleeze (“particles of wool or cotton; fluff; loose threads or fibres”), Danish fnug (“down, fluff”), Swedish fnugg (“speck, flake”). * Alternatively, West Flemish vluwe may derive from French velu (“hairy, furry”), from Latin villūtus (“having shaggy hair”), from villus (“shaggy hair, tuft of hair”). For words of similar sound and meaning in other languages, compare Japanese フワフワ (fuwafuwa, “lightly, softly”), Hungarian puha (“soft, fluffy”), Polish puchaty (“soft, fluffy”), Romanian puf (“down, peachfuzz, soft hair of some animals, powderpuff”).
Anything light, soft or fuzzy, especially fur, hair, feathers.
[W]hen I walk in my fields I can see, down Berwick way, the little fluffs of white smoke which tell me of this strange new hundred-legged beast, with coals for food and a thousand men in its belly, for ever crawling over the border.1892, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “[The Great Shadow] The Right of the Beacons”, in The Great Shadow and Beyond the City, Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., →OCLC, page 5:
2
Anything inconsequential or superficial.
That article was basically a bunch of fluff. It didn't say anything substantive.
3
Informal A lapse or mistake, especially a mistake in an actor's lines.
LifestyleSlang Fan fiction, or part of a fan fiction, which is sweet and feel-good in tone, usually involving romance.
And when something triggers, I can close the window and go read fluff for hours until I calm down.2011, anonymous, quoted in Katherine Larsen & Lynn Zubernis, Fandom at the Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/producer Relationships, page 138
Fans prefer fluff to other types of fic. But angst (dramatic stories where characters have a wide range of emotions, including...angsty ones) comes in close second.2017, "Flourish Kink", quoted in Ashley J. Barner, The Case for Fanfiction: Exploring the Pleasures and Practices of a Maligned Craft, page 67
1 more example
Ah, fluff. My happy place. These fics are dedicated to feel-good feelings, which are the very best type of feelings.2017, Carrie DiRisio, Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me, unnumbered page:
9
UK A form of roleplaying which is inconsequential and not related to the plot; often used in the context of (but not limited to) filling time.
Roleplaying games
10
UK, Obsolete, Slang Short change deliberately given by a railway clerk, to keep back money for himself.
"What?" cried the counter-man, indignantly. "Been a railwayman all these years, and don't know what fluff is? Why, 'pon me word, you deserve to get the sack!"1900, The Railway Magazine, volume 7, page 560:
From earlier floow (“woolly substance, down, nap, lint”), also spelt flough, flue, and flew, from West Flemish vluwe, of uncertain ultimate origin: * Compare Old English flōh (“that which is flown off, fragment, piece”); see flaw * Possibly representing a blend of flue + puff; compare Middle Dutch vloe, or perhaps onomatopoeic; compare dialectal English floose, flooze, fleeze (“particles of wool or cotton; fluff; loose threads or fibres”), Danish fnug (“down, fluff”), Swedish fnugg (“speck, flake”). * Alternatively, West Flemish vluwe may derive from French velu (“hairy, furry”), from Latin villūtus (“having shaggy hair”), from villus (“shaggy hair, tuft of hair”). For words of similar sound and meaning in other languages, compare Japanese フワフワ (fuwafuwa, “lightly, softly”), Hungarian puha (“soft, fluffy”), Polish puchaty (“soft, fluffy”), Romanian puf (“down, peachfuzz, soft hair of some animals, powderpuff”).
She gave the music-stool a twirl or two and fluffed down on to it like a whirl of soap-suds in a hand-basin.1872, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Poet at the Breakfast-Table:
4
Informal, Of an actor or announcer To make a mistake in one's lines.
5
Informal To do incorrectly, for example mishit, miskick, miscue etc.
Either side of Rooney's fluffed chance, it was a tale of Ukrainian domination as they attacked England down both flanks and showed the greater fluidity of the teams.2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport:
Slang To arouse (a male pornographic actor) before filming.
To get Lance Bronson hard, Chi Chi, in desperation, called Sharon Kane to come and fluff him on the set. People were always asking me how they could get a job as a fluffer.2008, Blue Blake, Out of the Blue: Confessions of an Unlikely Porn Star, page 187:
The warmup guy — as I now know is common for live audiences in taped television performances — kept fluffing the crowd like they were preschoolers. “Now what are you going to do when we introduce the first comedian?” Wild cheers. “C'mon, that's not good enough! Let's try it again! What are you going to do???”2016, Doug Stanhope, Digging Up Mother:
9
UK, Obsolete, Slang To deliberately shortchange (a railway customer) and keep the money for oneself.
A genial counter-man told Mr. Manners that, if he played artful, he might even now obtain the position of outside porter; you got no pay there, but you could gain a moderate competency by fluffing.1900, The Railway Magazine, volume 7, page 559: