The Public School Word-book / A conribution to to a historical glossary of words phrases and turns of expression obsolete and in current use peculiar to our great public schools together with some that have been or are modish at the universities

by John Stephen Farmer

Five, The, subs. (Charterhouse).—The Five bell.

Flannels, subs. (Harrow).—The members of either School Eleven.

1899. Public School Mag., Dec., p. 446. Up to the present the eleven have won four matches and lost one, while Monro, Cookson, Wyckoff, and Borwick have all received their FLANNELS.

Flat, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—An objectionable person; a “bounder.” [A misuse of flat = fool.]

Fleshy, subs. (Winchester).—A thick cut out of the middle of a shoulder of mutton. See Dispar.

Flies. Squashed flies, subs. (Durham: obsolete).—Biscuits with currants.

Floor, verb (general).—To pluck; to plough. Also = to master; to prove oneself superior to the occasion: e.g. TO FLOOR A PAPER, LESSON, EXAMINATION, EXAMINER, &c. Cf. Bowl; Throw.

1852. Bristed, Five Years in an English University, p. 12. Somehow I nearly FLOORED the paper.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iv. Mr. Filcher thoroughly understood the science of “FLOORING” a freshman.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford. I’ve FLOORED my Little Go.