fluke, v.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

fluke v.¹

[ety. unknown]

to fail; as fluke up, to do badly.

1864		B. Hemyng Eton School Days 203: I think I shall fluke doing Verses.
1887		Daily Trib. (Bismarck, ND) 23 Oct. 4/1: When he forgets [his lines] entirely he ‘flukes,’ ‘funks,’ ‘flats’ or ‘sticks.’.
1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 35: fluke, v. To fail utterly.
1929		E. Dahlberg Bottom Dogs 231: Maybe Jeremy Maxwell could afford to fluke that way, but damn if he could.
1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 383: If Dinch was with us, it’s one hyste we never woulda fluke up.

fluke out (v.)

(US) to die.

1958		W. Motley Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960) 161: Fear is what rules them [...] Of an overdose. You fluke out. You die.
1964		(con. 1950s) Charles Howe Valley of Fire 165: Rohr fluked out last night.

go up the fluke (v.)

(US campus) to fail in a recitation or examination.

1900

E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 35: fluke [...] Also in phrase ‘to go up the fluke,’ to fail in recitation or examination.