fluff

plural fluffs

1. countableuncountableAnything light, soft or fuzzy, especially fur, hair, feathers.

   [W]hen I walk in my fields I can see, down Berwick way, the little fluffs of white smoke which tell me of this strange new hundred-legged beast, with coals for food and a thousand men in its belly, for ever crawling over the border.

   1892, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “[The Great Shadow] The Right of the Beacons”, in The Great Shadow and Beyond the City, Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., →OCLC, page 5

   Synonyms: fuzz, oose, puff

2. countableuncountableAnything inconsequential or superficial.

   That article was basically a bunch of fluff. It didn't say anything substantive.

   Synonyms: BS, cruft, hype, all talk

3. countableinformaluncountableA lapse or mistake, especially a mistake in an actor's lines.

   Synonyms: flub, blooper, blunder, boo-boo, defect, error, fault, faux pas

4. countableinformalslanguncountableA cloth diaper.
5. New EnglandcountableuncountableMarshmallow creme.

   That New England-style salami and fluff sandwich sure hit the spot!

6. countableuncountableA passive partner in a lesbian relationship.

   Synonyms: ruffle

7. AustraliaCanadaNew ZealandcountableeuphemisticuncountableA fart.
8. countableslanguncountablelifestyleFan fiction, or part of a fan fiction, which is sweet and feel-good in tone, usually involving romance.

   And when something triggers, I can close the window and go read fluff for hours until I calm down.

   2011, anonymous, quoted in Katherine Larsen & Lynn Zubernis, Fandom at the Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/producer Relationships, page 138

   2 more examples

   Fans prefer fluff to other types of fic. But angst (dramatic stories where characters have a wide range of emotions, including...angsty ones) comes in close second.

   2017, "Flourish Kink", quoted in Ashley J. Barner, The Case for Fanfiction: Exploring the Pleasures and Practices of a Maligned Craft, page 67

   Ah, fluff. My happy place. These fics are dedicated to feel-good feelings, which are the very best type of feelings.

   2017, Carrie DiRisio, Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me, unnumbered page

   Antonyms: smut

9. UKcountableuncountableroleplaying gamesA form of roleplaying which is inconsequential and not related to the plot; often used in the context of (but not limited to) filling time.
10. UKcountableobsoleteslanguncountableShort change deliberately given by a railway clerk, to keep back money for himself.

    "What?" cried the counter-man, indignantly. "Been a railwayman all these years, and don't know what fluff is? Why, 'pon me word, you deserve to get the sack!"

    1900, The Railway Magazine, volume 7, page 560

present singular third person fluffs · participle present fluffing · participle past fluffed · past fluffed

1. transitiveTo make something fluffy.

   The cat fluffed its tail.

2. intransitiveTo become fluffy, puff up.
3. intransitiveTo move lightly like fluff.

   She gave the music-stool a twirl or two and fluffed down on to it like a whirl of soap-suds in a hand-basin.

   1872, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Poet at the Breakfast-Table

4. informalintransitivetransitiveTo make a mistake in one's lines.

   Synonyms: flub

5. informaltransitiveTo do incorrectly, for example mishit, miskick, miscue etc.

   Either side of Rooney's fluffed chance, it was a tale of Ukrainian domination as they attacked England down both flanks and showed the greater fluidity of the teams.

   2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport

   Synonyms: flub

6. AustraliaeuphemisticintransitiveTo break wind, to fart.
7. slangtransitiveTo arouse (a male pornographic actor) before filming.

   To get Lance Bronson hard, Chi Chi, in desperation, called Sharon Kane to come and fluff him on the set. People were always asking me how they could get a job as a fluffer.

   2008, Blue Blake, Out of the Blue: Confessions of an Unlikely Porn Star, page 187

8. broadlyslangtransitiveTo bring to a state of excitement.

   1 more example

   The warmup guy — as I now know is common for live audiences in taped television performances — kept fluffing the crowd like they were preschoolers. “Now what are you going to do when we introduce the first comedian?” Wild cheers. “C'mon, that's not good enough! Let's try it again! What are you going to do???”

   2016, Doug Stanhope, Digging Up Mother

9. UKobsoleteslangTo deliberately shortchange (a railway customer) and keep the money for oneself.

   A genial counter-man told Mr. Manners that, if he played artful, he might even now obtain the position of outside porter; you got no pay there, but you could gain a moderate competency by fluffing.

   1900, The Railway Magazine, volume 7, page 559