flunky n.2
1. a menial, a stooge; a toady.
![]() | Goethe: a New Pantomime in Poetical Works 2 (1878) 336: Skulker, Flunky, Horse-face, Stuffgut, / Heaven make me thy Jack Ketch! | |
![]() | Bristol Bill 15/2: The burglar evidently satisfied himself that Bill would prove no ‘flunkey,’ and that he was ready to be initiated into the mysteries of the gang. | [G. Thompson]|
![]() | Democrat & Chron. (Rochester, NY) 6 May 2/3: He is head flunkey and dirt-eater to every despicable titled thing. | |
![]() | in Log of Commodore Rollingpin 215: [song title] The Colored Flunky Band. | |
![]() | London up to Date 23: Aha! I hear my enemies ejaculate, Flunkey! Parasite! Snob! Toad-eater! Tuft-hunter! Flunkey! | |
![]() | Barkeep Stories 12: ‘Just den up comes a Dutch flunkey wid a tray in his mitt an’ an order fer san’wiches’. | |
![]() | Sun. Times (Perth) 5 Feb. 4/8: Captain Darvall’s flunky Scott / Set the pace up rather hot / It was plain that he was not / Cleaning knives. | |
![]() | Thirteen Years in Oregon Penitentiary 66: The ‘head snitch’ is sometimes called the head flunkey. | |
![]() | Jarnegan (1928) 226: I left word that when Irene’s flunky came for the jewels he was to see me. | |
![]() | One-Way Ride 77: This man of the underworld [...] lived like a prince, surrounded by flunkies. | |
![]() | Long Day’s Journey into Night II ii: He may not be a fancy millionaire’s flunky but he’s honest! | |
![]() | Alcoholics (1993) 61: He knew he was only a flunky. | |
![]() | Till Human Voices Wake Us 24: The cats-paw, the slave, the hanger-on, the flunkey [...] the stooge. | |
![]() | Addict in the Street (1966) 178: We were just flunkies, you know, working for someone higher. | |
![]() | Carlito’s Way 67: Reggie would strut around uptown with these two flunkies of his. | |
![]() | Life and Times of Little Richard 160: Richard, seated on an ornate throne, was carried in by sweating flunkies. | |
![]() | Observer Mag. 11 July 29: Flunkies in caramel-coloured suits, walkie-talkies clamped to their ears. | |
![]() | (con. 1964–8) Cold Six Thousand 20: The pro said he showed up with two girls and some flunky. | |
![]() | Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 71/2: flunkie (also flunk) n. 1 an inmate, usually a gang prospect, who acts as a runner or a servant for another inmate, usually a patch member of a gang ( [...] 2 a new prison officer during his probationary period. | |
![]() | (con. 1973) Johnny Porno 40: Nick had thought the move from flunky to personal driver was a big deal. | |
![]() | Mail & Guardian (SA) 12 July 🌐 In the good old days [...] you were schmoozed, treated like royalty, with a public relations flunky at your beck and call. | |
![]() | Old Scores [ebook] ‘Fucken slumlord, more like it. He’s trying it on. Who’s his flunky? Real estate agent?’. | |
![]() | Seven Demons 183: Agent Hannah turns and walks away [...] and the flunkies go with her. | |
![]() | (con. 1962) Enchanters 45: Where does she list her friends, colleagues, flunkies [etc]. |
2. (US) an assistant cook in a mining or lumber camp.
![]() | DN IV:ii 163: flunky, n. In mining and logging camps, a waiter. | ‘Addenda – The Northwest’ in|
![]() | Main Stem 158: At chow that night the flunkeys brought in great enamelled dishes of lamb-stew. | |
![]() | (con. c.1910) Holy Old Mackinaw 192: A cookee is here a flunkey. | |
![]() | Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
![]() | Hobohemia 14: A new job is listed, ‘Flunky Wanted,’ six dollars a week and board. | |
![]() | (con. 1920s) South of Heaven (1994) 45: The cook and his [...] flunkeys were now busy cleaning up. |
3. (US black) an undistinguished person.
![]() | Warriors (1966) 71: The coin flunky ducked in and down in his cage. | |
![]() | Heroin in Perspective (1972) 109: Face is a term applied to anyone on the street who is known as a creep, flunky, or nobody. | |
![]() | House of Slammers 87: Now to every stud but Honky Tonk Bud / He looked like an ordinary flunky. |
4. attrib. use of sense 1.
![]() | Augie March (1996) 189: I had [...] a flunky job, washing cages and sweeping up dogs’ hair. | |
![]() | Benny Muscles In (2004) 177: Why do you think I run myself ragged doing flunky errands. |
In derivatives
servants as a class.
![]() | Long Odds III 203: It takes a good deal to stagger the aplomb of a light dragoon, more especially when dealing with fiunkydom. |
sycophancy.
![]() | Sportsman (London) 25 Dec. 4/1: Notes on News [...] The Metropolitan Board of Works have just been guilty of a piece of flunkeyism of which, with all their faults, we could hardly have thought them capable. |