Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. orig, sporting use; lucky; subject to chance, thus flukily adv.

1874		York Herald 10 Aug. 8/1: London (City) Betting. Few of the leading operators being in Town, attempts to wager on future events proved fluky.
1875		Sheffield Indep. 14 May 4/4: Mr Longman [...] at first played rather flukily.
1880		Sunderland Echo 14 Aug. 4/1: The Surrey club [...] disposed of the runs, which were got flukily.
1882		Standard 3 Sept. n.p.: Bonnor got a flukey three in a somewhat fluky manner to square leg [F&H].
1888		Burnley Gaz. 2 May 4/6: The vistor secured the first goal.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 12 July 15/1: The cricketers (perhaps flukily and on a hideous wicket, judging by the low scoring) won a match at Stoke-on-Trent against an English eleven.
1891		Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette 20 Mar. n.p.: Now, Grady was a smart young Irishman who had thrashed Stevens twice in days gone by, and had won a somewhat flukey victory over Young Norley [F&H].
1894		Coburg Leader (Vic.) 20 Oct. 2/5: They Say [...] Coburg have got, a good substitute for Ramsay Mailer although his innings on Saturday last was a bit ‘fluky’ .
1903		Sheffield Dly Teleg. 10 Aug. 11/6: The challenger won all except a fluky victory which went to the old boat.
1910		Wodehouse Gentleman of Leisure Ch. xvii: Lord Dreever belonged to the class of billiard-players to whom a double-figure break is a thing to be noted and greeted with respect. ‘Fluky,’ muttered the silent Hargate.
1917		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘The Dog — as a Sportsman’ in Three Elephant Power 104: A fluky hit turns the scale in his favour.
1922		Derby Dly Teleg. 21 Oct. 7/3: Their goal was of the fluky order.
1932		J.L. Kuethe ‘Johns Hopkins Jargon’ in AS VII:5 332: flukey—not ‘on the level’; suspicious.
1938		Derby Dly Teleg. 12 Sept. 7/3: Chesterfield Beaten by Fluky Goals [...] Fulham's goals were rather fluky affairs.
1942		R. Chandler High Window 198: ‘He talked about a photograph,’ she said. [...] I said: ‘No, I don’t think so. It would have been a very fluky shot, even if he happened to have the camera in his hand.’.
1952		Yorks. Post 15 Sept. 6/3: Compelled for the last 20 minutes to hang on to a lead of one goal, they did so rather flukily.
1968		G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 186: I refuse to clap for a fluky try that came from our stupidity.
1978		A. Ayckbourn Joking Apart II i: Sorry. A bit flukey.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 171: Her celebrity [...] was a passing, fluky sort of thing.
1999		Guardian Friday Rev. 11 June 14: It may have been flukey.
2002		G. Villemure Tales from the Ranger Locker Room 27: We were down 3-0, The Cat took me out, which was the right thing to do, we tied up the game and a fluky goal beat us.
2008		J. Niven Kill Your Friends (2009) 67: ‘What a fucking result that was, eh? [...] Done them other cunts up like kippers, didn’t we?’ [...] ‘You fluky cunt’ I say.

2. (US, also flukey) peculiar, bizarre; also as adv.

1910		H.G. Wells Hist. of Mr Polly (1946) 11: The elementary education he had acquired had left him with the impression that arithmetic was a fluky science.
1922		Davenport Democrat and Leader (IA) 28 May 32/2–3: Then I jazzed a whirl with a cake-eater on parole but sluffed him for a fluky corn-shredder with a flat tire.
1922		Edwardsville Intelligencer (IL) 14 Sept. 4/4: The Flappers’ Dictionary [...] Fluky: Funny, odd, peculiar, different.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 191: I just tangled holes with some fluky-looking wiseacre. [Ibid.] 330: It’s fluky, all right.
1939		H. Miller Tropic of Capricorn (1964) 169: Fluttery and fluky at the same time, so that you could never determine whether it was fish or fowl. [Ibid.] 226: It was a fluky joy, a phony well-being, a destructive sort of fiery creation.
1954		B. Appel Sweet Money Girl 90: Stopping like I did was natural but what happened after I stopped was on the fluky side.
1955		B. Appel Tough Guy [ebook] [of an individual] [T]here was something flukey about this [girl]that puzzled him.
1994		G. Indiana Rent Boy 53: It was one of those warm days [...] even though it’s supposed to be winter, fluky warm.