fluffer

fluffer

English

Etymology

From fluff +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈflʌfə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈflʌfɚ/
• Rhymes: -ʌfə(ɹ)

Noun

fluffer (plural fluffers)

1. Someone or something that fluffs (in various senses).
   • 1993, Design (issues 533-539, page 38)

     Woe betide the camera-shy or the fluffers of lines.

   • 2009, Sunny Schwartz, Dreams from the Monster Factory

     To them, we were the dope-smuggling hippie liberals, the prisoner lovers, the pillow fluffers. To us, they were the sadistic, mean-spirited, right-wing thugs.

2. (pornography) One who arouses male pornographic actors before filming.

   Synonym: fluff girl

   • 1991, Robert Reeves, Peeping Thomas, →ISBN, page 112:

     "This isn't MGM. I don't do this full-time," she said. "During production, I'm the AD. Occasionally, I fill in as a fluffer."

3. (Britain) One who is employed to clean the tracks in the tunnels of the London Underground.
4. One who promotes or publicizes, especially one who makes something seem better or more important than it is.
   • 2007, Christopher Brookmyre, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, →ISBN, page 111:

     Thus it was only as I approached the table that I discovered Lafayette hovering behind the chair next to mine, accompanied by Easy Mather, as well as their new best friend and Lafayette's personal fluffer, Jillian Noble.

   • 2011, Barbara Ruben, The Principal’S Office: An Inside Story, →ISBN, page 38:

     There is always a “fluffer” who will posture for “good girl, good boy” attention, who will bring up some off-topic item—“good food drive effort” or “great basketball game the other night.”

   • 2013, Bettany Hughes, Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore, →ISBN, page 148:

     . In many retellings of the story, Aphrodite acts as Helen's fluffer.

5. (Internet slang) A dog.
   • 2017 April 23, Jessica Boddy, “Dogs Are Doggos: An Internet Language Built Around Love For The Puppers”, in NPR All Tech Considered‎:

     DoggoLingo, sometimes referred to as doggo-speak, "seems to be quite lexical, there are a lot of distinctive words that are used," says Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch. "It's cutesier than others, too. Doggo, woofer, pupper, pupperino, fluffer — those have all got an extra suffix on the end to make them cuter."

Further reading

• fluffer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Fluffer (London Underground) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia