flubv.
/flʌb/, U.S. /fləb/ U.S. colloquial.
transitive. To botch, bungle. Also intransitive. Hence as n., something badly or clumsily performed; a slip-up.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > be unskilled in [verb (transitive)] > bungle
botch1530
bungle1530
mumble1588
muddle1605
mash1642
bumble?1719
to fall through ——1726
fuck1776
blunder1805
to make a mull of1821
bitch1823
mess1823
to make a mess of1834
smudge1864
to muck up1875
boss1887
to make balls of1889
duff1890
foozle1892
bollocks1901
fluff1902
to make a muck of1903
bobble1908
to ball up1911
jazz1914
boob1915
to make a hash of1920
muff1922
flub1924
to make a hat of1925
to ass up1932
louse1934
screw1938
blow1943
to foul up1943
eff1945
balls1947
to make a hames of1947
to arse up1951
to fuck up1967
dork1969
sheg1981
bodge1984
1924 P. Marks Plastic Age xii. 122 I have the feeling..that I have flubbed this talk.
1926 P. G. Wodehouse Heart of Goof iv. 142 The spectacle of a flubber flubbing ahead of us on the fairway inclines to make us flub as well.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §578.18 Play inexpertly [music],..flub.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §711.8 Make a bad shot [golf]..flub.
1952 J. Steinbeck East of Eden 495 In my younger days I played tennis... A servant..could pick up his master's flubs at doubles.
1953 S. Kauffmann Philanderer iv. 70 They'll bring someone else in for the other job if you flub it.
1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 76 Al watched him flub balls all over the table.
1969 TV Times (Brisbane) 13 Aug. 8/3 Sullivan twitches. He mumbles. He flubs.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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