flitter
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See also: Flitter
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle English flytteren, frequentative form of flitten, flytten, flütten, possibly from Old Norse flytja (“to carry about, convey”), equivalent to flit + -er (frequentative suffix).
Verb
[edit]flitter (third-person singular simple present flitters, present participle flittering, simple past and past participle flittered)
- To scatter in pieces.
- To move about rapidly and nimbly.
- To move quickly from one condition or location to another.
- 2003, Rudy Gray, D'n'd, iUniverse, page 41:
- How she remembered the gray-feathered titmouse flittering about as she stared unbelievingly at the grave of her sister and clung to Reese, then five years old.
- 2006, Katherine Macinnis, Kelsar, Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, page 60:
- There were two bugs flittering on either side of her.
- 2014, Daniel Freeman, “The Conquest”, in College Essays That Made a Difference, 6th edition, Penguin Random House, page 129:
- The back of the group flittered in and out of my view, pulling me forward with only dim hopes of success.
- To flutter or quiver.
Derived terms
[edit]Etymology 2
[edit]Noun
[edit]flitter (plural flitters)
- A fluttering movement
- 2014, Peter Ashby, The Name of Seven:
- A waxing moon riding high in the sky and a flitter of bats about the rooftops, dipping and swerving as they gathered up the gnats that danced there in ephemeral clouds.
- A rag; a tatter; a small piece or fragment.
- 1832, Paddy Kelly's Budget:
- Without a flitter of a blanket o'er me
- 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:
- But to return to where we left her, I see her still, propped up in a kind of stupor against one of the walls in which this wretched edifice abounds, her long grey greasy hair framing in its cowl of scrofulous mats a face where pallor, languor, hunger, acne, recent dirt, immemorial chagrin and surplus hair seemed to dispute the mastery. Flitters of perforated starch entwine an ear.
- Any of various hesperiid butterflies of the genus Hyarotis.
- (science fiction) A small aircraft or spacecraft.
- 1941 July, Edward Elmer Smith, “The Vortex Blaster”, in Comet Stories, volume 1, number 5, page 10:
- Then all three went out to the flitter. A tiny speedster, really; a torpedo bearing stubby wings and the ludicrous tail-surfaces, the multifarious driving-, braking-, side-, top-, and under-jets so characteristic of the tricky, cranky, but ultra-maneuverable breed.
- 1944 March, George Oliver Smith, “Circle of Confusion”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 33, number 1, page 54:
- Small flitters were powered and made ready, and everything that carried manual controls was inspected and cleared for action.
- 1955, Alice Mary Norton (as Andrew North), Sargasso of Space, page 53:
- The small flitters carried by the Queen for exploration work held with comfort a two-man crew—with crowding, three.
- 1994, Stephen Baxter, Ring, →ISBN, page 43:
- The flitter tumbled from the shimmering throat of the wormhole transit route from Port Sol to Earthport.
- A small perceptible feeling
- 2014, Love Inspired September 2014:
- Hannah couldn't stop a flitter of panic at the thought.
- 2016, Mark Douglas-Home, The Malice of Waves:
- He sensed Wheeler tensing, the slightest of tremors in the stillness of the ruined chapel, a flitter of irritation.
Etymology 3
[edit]Noun
[edit]flitter (plural flitters)
Derived terms
[edit]References
[edit]- (aircraft): Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “flitter”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 66.
- (aircraft): Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “flitter n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
- “flitter”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
German
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Verb
[edit]flitter
- inflection of flittern:
Categories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪtə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ɪtə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms suffixed with -er (verbal frequentative)
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Science fiction
- English archaic terms
- Southern US English
- Caribbean English
- English pronunciation spellings
- en:Skippers
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German non-lemma forms
- German verb forms