Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a small, swift trip.

1857		C. Keene letter in Layard Life (1892) 62: I had a brief flutter down to the coast of Devon [...] I loafed about, sketching .
1883		E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestershire 376: The same fox [...] had given us a first flutter across the country [OED].

2. a spree, an adventure; thus on the flutter, out on a spree.

1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Sept. 25/4: Vic. Contingent Private M’Cance – dangerously wounded and captured in S’Africa – returned, the other day, to his native place near Castlemaine; and, as a preliminary flutter, had to kiss all the young woman thereof.

3. an attempt, a try.

1873		Sl. Dict. 166: Flutter to try hard in defence or pursuit of an object. ‘I’ll have a FLUTTER for it,’ means I’ll have a good try for it. Also to toss for anything. Probably from the spinning of the coin.
1881		Newcastle Courant 2 Dec. 6/6: We’ll have a flutter for it, anyway.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 25 Apr. 14/1: We should like to see a first-class man from England or America come out and give him a flutter, as there does not appear any show of a colonial tackling him.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 10 Sept. 1/4: A John Hop is first in the flutter for the Barrack-street beer-fairy.
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 24: flutter — An attempt.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: flutter. An attempt, ‘give it a flutter’.
1946		F.J. Hardy ‘The Load of Wood’ in Man From Clinkapella 8: I reckon we orta give it a flutter.

4. a bet, often presumed to be small, unless used ironically; usu. in phr. have a flutter.

1880		J. Payn Confidential Agent I 134: I am not funky of you at any game, and I want a ‘flutter’.
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 May. 9/4: As the poet Phil M’Carroll observes, better be robbed ourselves than not have a ‘flutter’ at all.
1882		A. Trumble Mysteries of N.Y. 9: [T]heir speculation is as conservative as a flutter in cemetery stocks.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Aug. 17/1: The Juvenile Stakes at Warwick Farm, on Saturday, the first two-year-old flutter of the season, bought out ten youngsters.
1896		Albert Chevalier ‘The Racecourse Sharper’ 🎵 I let’s ’em ’ave a flutter for ter win their L.s.d.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 259: I’m jiggered if I don’t have a flutter.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 2 Oct. 1/1: The last punter doing a flutter at the time of the raid was a crimson beaked Customs official.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Dec. 29/2: Well, one of these days when the ole man with the billygoat beard sittin’ on the three-legged stool reading the noospaper dies, just you send to me, an’ I might have a flutter at it.
1913		‘J.W.L.’ Slave Stories 41: Here goes for a flutter, in which you gossoons will be darned glad to chip in your hard-earned dollars.
1920		‘Sapper’ Bulldog Drummond 62: ‘Are you interested in gambling?’ [...] ‘A mild flutter, Mr. Peterson, every now and then.’.
1930		W.S. Maugham Bread-Winner Act II: Whether he’s a gambler who wants a flutter for the excitement of it, or a fool who thinks he can make money.
1940		S. Lister Mistral Hotel (1951) 65: Palm Beach is open and we might have a flutter.
1941		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 23 Oct. 17/3: ‘I would love a flutter,’ replied the Colonel, ‘"but I did not expect to play as my ready cash is in the bank in Sydney’.
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 41: I suppose it is worth a small flutter.
1967		J. Hibberd White with Wire Wheels (1973) 101: Why not have a flutter, eh Robbo?
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 173: ‘It’s just a flutter,’ she said. ‘Bit of fun. Little gamble.’.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 37: Anyone who’s ever had a flutter on the trots [etc].
1989		(con. 1950s–60s) in G. Tremlett Little Legs 24: These old dears wanted a flutter.
1997		P. Theroux Kowloon Tong 25: Betty gambled at Happy Valley and Sha Tin, but never recklessly. ‘Just a flutter.’.
2006		K. Palmer A Roving Commission 138: I’ve known many RAF officers who have a flutter, just as they might chase the girls and hit the bottle.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 212: We having a flutter, or what? [...] We on or what?
2013		T. Peacock More You Bet 6: My father’s motherf [...] loved ‘a bit of a flutter’ or loved ‘a bit of a punt’.