a kind of soft woven fabric, typically made of wool or cotton and slightly milled and raised

a check flannel shirt

a small piece of towelling used for washing oneself

bland fluent talk indulged in to avoid addressing a difficult subject or situation directly

a simple admittance of ignorance was much to be preferred to any amount of flannel

use bland fluent talk to avoid addressing a difficult subject or situation directly

he apologised for the situation and then flannelled on about ramping up production