flitty

English

Etymology

From flit +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflɪti/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪti

Adjective

flitty (comparative flittier, superlative flittiest)

1. (archaic) unstable, fluttering.
2. (slang) Ostentatiously effeminate.
   • 1951, J. D. Salinger, chapter 18, in The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 185:

     The other end of the bar was full of flits. They weren't too flitty-looking—I mean they didn't have their hair too long or anything—but you could tell they were flits anyway.

   • 1995 September 8, Peter Margasak, “Edwyn Collins”, in Chicago Reader‎^[1]:

     His once flitty warble has deepened into a quavery David Bowie/Iggy Pop croon, and it perfectly suits the new record's mix of quasi soul and somber guitar pop.

   • 1999 December 24, Albert Williams, “Lean and Mean”, in Chicago Reader‎^[2]:

     In each scenario, the mother worries whether her flitty son (Garcia) will ever marry."

   • 2001 February 23, Albert Williams, “Springtime for Mel Brooks”, in Chicago Reader‎^[3]:

     Some observers may be taken aback by Brooks's treatment of homosexuality: while the subject was only a side theme in the movie, here it's placed front and center in the character of Roger and his flitty "common-law assistant," Carmen Ghia.

Synonyms

(ostentatiously homosexual): camp

References

• “flitty”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.