flop sweat

• flopsweat

From flop +‎ sweat.

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flop sweat (usually uncountable, plural flop sweats)

1. (slang) Sweat due to nervousness, especially fear of failure.
   • 15 March 1947, Bill Smith, "Night Club Reviews", Billboard page 36:

     Billy Vine, covered with flop sweat, started so-so, but in a few minutes he had them.

2. (slang) Panic or anxiety about possible failure.
   • 1979, Ken Waissman, Maxine Fox, “Broadway: A sound heard around the world”, in Beyond Media, →ISBN, page 264:

     This is the point very often where panic sets in. In theatre jargon, we call it "flop sweat."