flop sweat


Also found in: Idioms, Wikipedia.
Related to flop sweat: sweaty

flop sweat

n
informal a sudden heavy perspiration caused by embarrassment
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
References in periodicals archive ?
But like many exaggerated projections of strength, it's giving off the unseemly whiff of flop sweat. There is a parallel here.
Some would even say his flop sweat lost him the election.
The biggest stink in Niagara Falls this summer is actually emanating from City Hall, where the stench of what is known in show business as "flop sweat" is overpowering.
What was great about Kimmel was how he projects such a casual, effortless vibe, in stark contrast to hosts like Jimmy Fallon or Neil Patrick Harris, who have their charms but always seem to be trying so hard onstage that they risk projectile flop sweat.
My hands were clammy and flop sweat trickled down my forehead as I waited to enter the exam hall.
I've tried; spilling my practice bottle of saline solution down my cheeks like a phony's flop sweat. Without me, she'd get shut-eye.
The most tangible upshot of Chelsea's current architectural hypertrophy--nothing more, really, than a blunt spatialization of the distended market that gives rise to it--is that even the most self-confident work often seems to strain under the obligation to live up to the sheer cubic feet devoted to it, lending a vague sheen of flop sweat to even good ideas and persuasive objects.
The less glamorous pair of dancers waiting in the wings for the movie screen to go dark--they are usually corps members--may already be experiencing flop sweat, knowing that when they enter they will have to compete with the image of two Hollywood icons standing three stories tall.
"Getting on that red carpet, I just instantly flop sweat...
"Imagine they all are naked," is the advice often given to those with flop sweat. Instead I imagine them as Visigoths, armed with studded clubs, dressed in animal skins and with eyes as red as those of a hungry jaguar.
Was it me?" The flop sweat began; the lesbian technician came up on stage and practically undressed the star of the show.
We watch La Russa's pregame ritual of making cards showing how each of his pitchers has done against the Cubs hitters, his irritation when inexperienced young players hog the spotlight, and the flop sweat when he chooses a risky tactic based not on numbers but on intuition.