frou-frou

plural frou-frous · alternative froufrou · alternative froo-froo · alternative fru-fru · alternative froofroo · alternative frufru

1. onomatopoeicA rustling sound, particularly the rustling of a large silk dress.

   […]the frou-frou of life was lost to her[…]

   1876, William Besant et al., The Golden Butterfly, act I, scene vi, line 108

   5 more examples

   The modern frou-frou of satin and gros-de-Naples skirts is nothing to the rustling of brocaded silks.

   1870 June 4, Athenaeum, page 734

   She was pretty, charming, and, moreover, a widow. And because of this she at once had at heel any number of Eldorado Kings, officials, and adventuring younger sons, whose ears were yearning for the frou-frou of a woman’s skirts.

   1901, Jack London, “The Great Interrogation”, in The God of His Fathers, New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., page 34

   “Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department,” said Holmes, with a smile, when the dwindling frou-frou of skirts had ended in the slam of the front door.

   1904 December, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Second Stain”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC

   Lord Grenville took a hasty farewell of the ladies and slipped back into his box, where M. Chauvelin had sat all through this entr’acte, with his eternal snuff-box in his hand, and with his keen pale eyes intently fixed upon a box opposite to him, where, with much frou-frou of silken skirts, much laughter and general stir of curiosity amongst the audience, […]

   1905 January 12, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], The Scarlet Pimpernel, popular edition, London: Greening & Co., published 20 March 1912, →OCLC, page 94

   Impervious to the cheap perfumes and the frou-frou of young ladies' skirts, he finally and with deepest dread plunged ahead, banging in his ignorance on the keys as if they were a snare drum.

   2014 September 6, Tony Roberts, “Poem to a Friend Feeling Out of His Element”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

comparative more frou-frou · superlative most frou-frou · alternative froufrou · alternative froo-froo · alternative fru-fru · alternative froofroo · alternative frufru

1. Liable to create the sound of rustling cloth, similar to 19th-century dresses.
2. Highly ornamented, overly elaborate; excessively girly.

   They ate in a frou-frou restaurant at the top of a skyscraper.

   3 more examples

   Kinda like a frou-frou dessert at a chichi restaurant, restaurant.

   2009 September 1, Michael Chapman; Matthew Chapman, “Strong Bad Email #204: dictionary”, in Homestar Runner, spoken by Strong Bad (Matthew Chapman)

   This is a column for a Sunday paper, designed to be absorbed at leisure, over coffee and frou-frou pastries, at around noon.

   2012 June 30, Miranda Sawyer, “Rewind radio: Love Love Love Like the Beatles; Is It Worth It?; 6-Love-6”, in The Observer, →ISSN

   For the price of a frou-frou Starbucks drink, a Netflix subscriber could binge this content ad nauseam without suffering through a single commercial – the ideal home viewing experience.

   2023 January 21, Andrew Lawrence, “Netflix’s Reed Hastings changed the way we watch TV – for better or for worse”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: fruffy

3. derogatoryUnimportant, silly, useless.

   Bob was off faffing about doing frou-frou nonsense whilst Edwina kept her nose to the grindstone.

   2 more examples

   Barack Obama, out of touch with the working man as usual, has an aggressive program for carbon emissions reductions and has spoken of the need for such frou-frou measures as increased investment in transit infrastructure, intercity rail, and even bicycling.

   2008 July 15, Matthew Yglesias, “Obama's Elitism Problem, Continued”, in The Atlantic

   Dr. Okorie: Those paintings on the walls have a definite effect on people. A very specific definite effect, with wildly variable results. Would you call them de-inhibitors, Lillian? Dr. Lillihammer: I'd call them cognition divergence vectors. I've already got the paper half-written in my mind. Dr. Blank: Explain it to us froufrou hard and social scientists. Dr. Wettle: I'm not froufrou, you're froufrou.

   2024 September 28, Harry Blank, “Not Ready for Prime Time”, in Deadlined, →ISBN, pages 580–581

present singular third person frou-frous · participle present frou-frouing · participle past frou-froued · past frou-froued · alternative froufrou · alternative froo-froo · alternative fru-fru · alternative froofroo · alternative frufru

1. intransitiveuncommonTo move with the sound of rustling dresses.

   […]frou-frouing femininities[…]

   1905 May 18, Truth, page 1289

   1 more example

   “Oh, you funny girl! You look so surprised. Confess, now, there's nothing you can hide from me,” and ruffling my hair as she passed she frou-froued out of the room.

   1894 October, The Vassar Miscellany, volume 26, page 81