fluster

verb

1. (transitive)To throw (someone) into a state of confusion or panic; to befuddle, to confuse.

   “The aged housekeeper was no less flustered and hurried in obeying the numerous and contradictory commands of her mistress, […]”

   “Weel, Sam'l, I d'na want to fluster ye, but she's been ower lang wi' Lisbeth Fargus no to hae learnt her ways.”

2. (transitive)To make emotionally overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.
3. (broadly, transitive)To make emotionally overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.
4. (dated, transitive)To make (someone) feel flushed and hot through drinking alcoholic beverages; also, to make (someone) slightly drunk or tipsy.

   “Three lads of Cypres, noble ſvvelling ſpirits, / That hold their honour, in a vvary diſtance, / The very Elements of this vvarlike Iſle, / Haue I tonight fluſtred vvith flovving cups, / And the vvatch too: novv mongſt this flocke of drunkards, / I am to put our Caſsio in ſome action, / That may offend the Iſle; […]”

   “His practice of flustering himself daily with claret was hardly considered as a fault by his contemporaries.”

   “[S]ome [letters] are composed in a high state of vinous excitement, when his head is flustered with Burgundy, and his heart abounds with amorous warmth for his darling Prue: some are under the influence of the dismal headache and repentance next morning: […]”

5. (intransitive)To be agitated and confused; to bustle.

   “He seemed to fluster when speaking in front of many people.”

   “[H]e broke out upon Mrs. Sumfit: "Now, then, mother!" which caused her to fluster guiltily, […]”

   “A little bit before morning the Dutch gunboat come flustering up, and the two ships stood together watching the lights burn out and out, till there was nothing left 'cept Flores Straits, all green and wet, and a dozen wreck-buoys, and Wurlee Light.”

6. (intransitive)To become overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.
7. (broadly, intransitive)To become overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.
8. (British, dialectal, intransitive)To catch attention; to be showy or splendid.
9. (intransitive, obsolete)To boast or brag noisily; to bluster, to swagger.

   “And the Apoſtle [Paul] ſeems here moſt peculiarly to have directed this Encomium of the Gospel, as a Defiance to the Philoſophers of his Time, the Fluſtring Vain-glorious Greeks, vvho pretended ſo much to magnify, and even Adore the VViſdom they profeſſed, […]”

10. (intransitive, obsolete)Of a seed: to produce a shoot quickly.

noun

1. A state of agitation or confusion; a flutter.

   “Good-morrovv, Madam; hovv do you do to-day? you ſeem to be in a little fluſter.”

   “I wouldna wonder but ye're richt, Leeby; for Chirsty would be in an oncommon fluster if she thocht the lad's mither was likely to hear 'at her best chair was torn.”

2. (obsolete)A state of slight drunkenness or tipsiness; also, the excitement caused by this state.

   “It is certainly a very agreeable change, when we see a glass raise a lifeless conversation into all the pleasures of wit and good humour. But when Caska adds to his natural impudence the fluster of a bottle, that which fools call fire when he was sober, all men abhor as outrage when he is drunk.”

3. (obsolete)Showiness, splendour.

   “Yet to vvork he fell, not omitting firſt to Sum himſelf up in the vvhole vvardrobe of his Function; […] as to the end that being huff'd up in all his Eccleſiaſtical fluſter, he might appear more formidable, and in the pride of his Heart and Habit, out-boniface an Humble Moderator.”

   “Let no preſent fluſter of Fortune, or flovv of Riches, either tranſport the Man himſelf vvith Confidence, or the Fools about him vvith Admiration, till vve ſee that it makes him better and vviſer than he vvas before, […]”