Green’s Dictionary of Slang

flunky n.2

also flunkey
[SE flunkey, servant]

1. a menial, a stooge; a toady.

[UK]E.V. Kenealy Goethe: a New Pantomime in Poetical Works 2 (1878) 336: Skulker, Flunky, Horse-face, Stuffgut, / Heaven make me thy Jack Ketch!
[US]‘Greenhorn’ [G. Thompson] 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.
[US]Democrat & Chron. (Rochester, NY) 6 May 2/3: He is head flunkey and dirt-eater to every despicable titled thing.
[UK] in J.H. Carter Log of Commodore Rollingpin 215: [song title] The Colored Flunky Band.
[UK]G.A. Sala London up to Date 23: Aha! I hear my enemies ejaculate, Flunkey! Parasite! Snob! Toad-eater! Tuft-hunter! Flunkey!
[US]F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 12: ‘Just den up comes a Dutch flunkey wid a tray in his mitt an’ an order fer san’wiches’.
[Aus]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.
[US]J. Kelley Thirteen Years in Oregon Penitentiary 66: The ‘head snitch’ is sometimes called the head flunkey.
[US]J. Tully Jarnegan (1928) 226: I left word that when Irene’s flunky came for the jewels he was to see me.
[US]W.N. Burns One-Way Ride 77: This man of the underworld [...] lived like a prince, surrounded by flunkies.
[US]E. O’Neill Long Day’s Journey into Night II ii: He may not be a fancy millionaire’s flunky but he’s honest!
[US]J. Thompson Alcoholics (1993) 61: He knew he was only a flunky.
[NZ]I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 24: The cats-paw, the slave, the hanger-on, the flunkey [...] the stooge.
[US]Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 178: We were just flunkies, you know, working for someone higher.
[US]E. Torres Carlito’s Way 67: Reggie would strut around uptown with these two flunkies of his.
[US]C. White Life and Times of Little Richard 160: Richard, seated on an ornate throne, was carried in by sweating flunkies.
[UK]Observer Mag. 11 July 29: Flunkies in caramel-coloured suits, walkie-talkies clamped to their ears.
[US](con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 20: The pro said he showed up with two girls and some flunky.
[NZ]D. Looser 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.
[US](con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 40: Nick had thought the move from flunky to personal driver was a big deal.
[SA]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.
[Aus]D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] ‘Fucken slumlord, more like it. He’s trying it on. Who’s his flunky? Real estate agent?’.
[UK]‘Aidan Truhen’ Seven Demons 183: Agent Hannah turns and walks away [...] and the flunkies go with her.
[US](con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 45: Where does she list her friends, colleagues, flunkies [etc].

2. (US) an assistant cook in a mining or lumber camp.

[US]B.T. Harvey ‘Addenda – The Northwest’ in DN IV:ii 163: flunky, n. In mining and logging camps, a waiter.
[US]W. Edge Main Stem 158: At chow that night the flunkeys brought in great enamelled dishes of lamb-stew.
[US](con. c.1910) S.H. Holbrook Holy Old Mackinaw 192: A cookee is here a flunkey.
[US]Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
[US]F.O. Beck Hobohemia 14: A new job is listed, ‘Flunky Wanted,’ six dollars a week and board.
[US](con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 45: The cook and his [...] flunkeys were now busy cleaning up.

3. (US black) an undistinguished person.

[US]S. Yurick Warriors (1966) 71: The coin flunky ducked in and down in his cage.
[US]Smith & Gay Heroin in Perspective (1972) 109: Face is a term applied to anyone on the street who is known as a creep, flunky, or nobody.
[US]N. Heard House of Slammers 87: Now to every stud but Honky Tonk Bud / He looked like an ordinary flunky.

4. attrib. use of sense 1.

[US]S. Bellow Augie March (1996) 189: I had [...] a flunky job, washing cages and sweeping up dogs’ hair.
[US]P. Rabe Benny Muscles In (2004) 177: Why do you think I run myself ragged doing flunky errands.
q. in Wenner & Seymour Gonzo 28: You deliver newspapers in the morning and then run copy from the editor back to the writer and from the writer to the editor and so on. Flunky work.

In derivatives

flunkydom (n.)

servants as a class.

[UK]H. Smart Long Odds III 203: It takes a good deal to stagger the aplomb of a light dragoon, more especially when dealing with fiunkydom.
flunkyism (n.)

sycophancy.

[UK]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.