1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt (“to flick”), flurt (“to mock, jibe, scorn”), and flirt, flurt (“a giddy girl”). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, all of apparently onomatopoeic origin, compare Low German flirt (“a flick of the fingers, a light blow”), Low German flirtje (“a giddy girl”), Low German flirtje (“a flirt”), German Flittchen (“a flirt; tart; hussy”), Norwegian flira (“to giggle, titter”). Compare also Early Modern English jillflirt, gillian flirt, and flirt-gill (“a flirt”), and Scots flird (“a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at, talk idly, flirt, flaunt”), which is perhaps from Middle English flerd (“mockery, fraud, deception”), from Old English fleard (“nonsense, vanity, folly, deception”); potentially related to Icelandic flærð (“trickiness, deceit”), Swedish flärd (“vanity, frivolity, flamboyance”), Dutch flard (“tatter, shred”). See flird.
Meanings
(not-comparable) Flirtatious.
Now Maggie knew that he was flirt and for the most part it didn't bother her when he flirted with other girls because she knew that at the end of the day she was the one that he would end up kissing. 2010, Tasha Harper, Her Wall, page 227:
You know I've been very flirt with girls. 2016, Samra Kiyani, Love Vs. Rituals & Provocation, page 103:
He had “large dark blue eyes, wide open, very coquet, very flirt in the way he looked at you.” 2005, Constance Crawford, Babette: Elisabeth Ullman Wills, page 57:
1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt (“to flick”), flurt (“to mock, jibe, scorn”), and flirt, flurt (“a giddy girl”). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, all of apparently onomatopoeic origin, compare Low German flirt (“a flick of the fingers, a light blow”), Low German flirtje (“a giddy girl”), Low German flirtje (“a flirt”), German Flittchen (“a flirt; tart; hussy”), Norwegian flira (“to giggle, titter”). Compare also Early Modern English jillflirt, gillian flirt, and flirt-gill (“a flirt”), and Scots flird (“a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at, talk idly, flirt, flaunt”), which is perhaps from Middle English flerd (“mockery, fraud, deception”), from Old English fleard (“nonsense, vanity, folly, deception”); potentially related to Icelandic flærð (“trickiness, deceit”), Swedish flärd (“vanity, frivolity, flamboyance”), Dutch flard (“tatter, shred”). See flird.
Meanings
A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion
an angry hectic in each cheek, a fierce flirt of her fan, and two or three short sniffs that betokened mischief 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
several little flirts and vibrations 1711 July 7 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, June 27, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 102; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
with many a flirt and flutter 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y.; London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC:
Someone who flirts a lot or enjoys flirting; a flirtatious person.
Several young flirts about town had a design to cast us out of the fashionable world. July 16, 1713, Joseph Addison, The Guardian No. 109
'Oooh, don't.' Lilly staggered behind the counter. 'Hangover from hell. We had a good time, I think. He's such a flirt though. He really fancied Midnight. Was sooo gutted that she was actually a straight man. Think it almost turned him celibate.' 2011, Christina Jones, Never Can Say Goodbye:
An act of flirting.
A tentative or brief, passing engagement with something.
However, the later rabbinic Law demands from a Jew who wishes to return to Judaism after a flirt with another religion, to go through giyur, conversion requirements, like any Gentile who wishes to enter the Covenant of Israel. 2005, Murray J. Kohn, Is the Holocaust Vanishing?: A Survivor's Reflections on the Academic Waning of Memory and Jewish Identity in the Post-Auschwitz Era, University Press of America, →ISBN, page 141:
Lafayette Ron Hubbard was acquainted for some time with John “Jack” Whiteside Parsons (1914–1952), the James Dean of the occult, who was a rocket engineer and, after a brief flirt with Marxism, became interested in witchcraft and voodoo ... 2019, Rolf Giesen, The Nosferatu Story: The Seminal Horror Film, Its Predecessors and Its Enduring Legacy, McFarland, →ISBN, page 113:
Only two years older than André, this bespectacled bookworm had, after a flirt with the surrealists, settled down as the editor of Gallimard's literary monthly, Nouvelle Revue Française, better known by its acronym NRF. 1990, Axel Madsen, Silk Roads: The Asian Adventures of Clara and André Malraux:
Manufacturers are being stung into action on both sides of the Atlantic as climbers consult their lawyers after a flirt with gravity. Of course responsible manufacturers already exercise great care with all aspects of safety and testing. 1988, Mountain:
Receiving a chair in Stockholm 1904 – after a passing flirt with the Historical School and social reform – he became an enigmatic Walrasian. 2014, Vincent Barnett, Routledge Handbook of the History of Global Economic Thought, Routledge, →ISBN:
However, after a brief flirt with socialist realism , this method was abandoned and strict controls were removed after 1948. By the early 1950s, writers had earned the right to use any method and to experiment. 1986, The Reader's Adviser:
(dialectal) A brief shower (of rain or snow).
Who cares now for hailstones skirling?
The rushes bend to the eddies curling;
A breath — and lo! the flag uncurling its petals blue
Oh, spring will come! There's a flirt of rain and a drift of light;
Oh, Spring will come! 1917, Elizabeth Sewell Hill, Western Waters, and Other Poems, page 61:
In the haze to the extreme north the Tower of Flints arose like a celluloid ruler set floating upon its end, or like a water-color drawing of a tower that has been left in the open and whose pigment has been all but washed away by a flirt of rain. 1967, Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan:
... and we still trusted to accomplish the Malnitzer Pass on the morrow. Our hopes fell to zero as during the night an ominous wind howled over the roof, and shook our casements furiously. Morning broke with chilling flirts of rain. 1864, Josiah Gilbert, G. C. Churchill, The Dolomite Mountains: Excursions Through Tyrol, Carinthia, Carniola, and Friuli in 1861, 1861, and 1863 : with a Geological Chapter, page 10:
[page 59:] A flirt of snow; after which, mild and pleasant weather, (with occasional showers) continued through the remainder of the month.
[page 220:] The medium temperature of this month was 45, and it produced much mild and pleasant weather, interspersed with some rainy days, and a few flirts of snow, and frosty nights. 1847, Charles Peirce, A Meteorological Account of the Weather in Philadelphia: From January 1, 1790, to January 1, 1847, Including Fifty-seven Years; with an Appendix...:
But joy came in the morning : first a glimpse of blue sky between the flirts of rain, then a sign of the sun. The river was reported to be rapidly filling — never mind, unlucky Friday has passed by, and we may look for better things on Saturday. 1875, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Ultima Thule: Or, A Summer in Iceland, page 316:
"[…] and I would n't wonder ef we did n't have a little brush of wind and quite a flirt o' snow outen her yit." 1903, George Savary Wasson, Cap'n Simeon's Store, page 218:
Long before their wonted time the robins came, — so early, indeed, that many a flirt of snow has stopped their nest-repairing, and sent them off shivering with the blues. They have arrived now in full force. 1881, Abba Goold Woolson, Browsing Among Books: And Other Essays, page 184:
In the course of the month, there were three flirts of snow, […] 1842, Hazard's United States Commercial and Statistical Register, page 218:
(with-definite-article) Russula vesca, an edible woodland mushroom.
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Translations (45)
es camelo (act of flirting) · fi sätky (sudden jerk; a quick throw) · es coqueto (one who flirts) · bg кокетка (one who flirts) · tr yosma (one who flirts) · ta கடலை (act of flirting) · eo flirtado (act of flirting) · bg тръскане (sudden jerk; a quick throw) · sv flört (act of flirting) · eo flirtanto (one who flirts) · sl koketa (one who flirts) · el φλερτάρισμα (act of flirting) · es ligona (one who flirts) · sv flirtare (one who flirts) · sv flörtare (one who flirts) · sv flirt (act of flirting) · tr koket (one who flirts) · es coqueteo (act of flirting) · fi viskaus (sudden jerk; a quick throw) · es mariposón (one who flirts) · tr flört (one who flirts) · es coqueta (one who flirts) · de Flirt (act of flirting) · sl spogledljivec (one who flirts) · sl spogledljivka (one who flirts) · el φλερτ (act of flirting) · ast moceru (one who flirts) · ru бросо́к (sudden jerk; a quick throw) · pt flertar (act of flirting) · es ligón (one who flirts) · tr oynaş (act of flirting) · ja いちゃいちゃ (act of flirting) · ru рыво́к (sudden jerk; a quick throw) · acw غَزَل (act of flirting) · fi flirttailija (one who flirts) · ru коке́тка (one who flirts) · tr çapkın (one who flirts) · tr yazma (act of flirting) · bg флирт (act of flirting) · fr flirt (act of flirting) · es flirteo (act of flirting) · fi flirttailu (act of flirting) · sl spogledovanje (act of flirting) · tr flört (act of flirting) · ru флирт (act of flirting)
1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt (“to flick”), flurt (“to mock, jibe, scorn”), and flirt, flurt (“a giddy girl”). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, all of apparently onomatopoeic origin, compare Low German flirt (“a flick of the fingers, a light blow”), Low German flirtje (“a giddy girl”), Low German flirtje (“a flirt”), German Flittchen (“a flirt; tart; hussy”), Norwegian flira (“to giggle, titter”). Compare also Early Modern English jillflirt, gillian flirt, and flirt-gill (“a flirt”), and Scots flird (“a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at, talk idly, flirt, flaunt”), which is perhaps from Middle English flerd (“mockery, fraud, deception”), from Old English fleard (“nonsense, vanity, folly, deception”); potentially related to Icelandic flærð (“trickiness, deceit”), Swedish flärd (“vanity, frivolity, flamboyance”), Dutch flard (“tatter, shred”). See flird.
Meanings
(transitive) To throw (something) with a jerk or sudden movement; to fling.
The carpenter himself, going with another man to furl the main-top-gallant-sail in a squall, was nearly pushed from the rigging by an unseen hand; and his shipmate swore that a wet hammock was flirted in his face. 1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:
to flirt a glove, or a handkerchief
She laughed […] while she flirted a soiled pocket-handkerchief at him. 1891, Henry James, The Pupil^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3AThe_Lesson_of_the_Master%2C_The_Marriages%2C_The_Pupil%2C_Brooksmith%2C_The_Solution%2C_Sir_Edmund_Orme_(New_York_%26_London%2C_Macmillan_%26_Co.%2C_1892).djvu/155), page 141:
It is always there in Irish life, the wrist's twist that flirts aside the decent cloth, damask or calico, and shows for a glinting instant the sharpened knife. It is not menacing at all, when you have lived your life with it. We would be lonely without our knives and our wounds. 1988, Thomas Flanagan, novel: The Tenants of Time chapter 13
They flirt water in each other's faces.
She [Mollie, the mare] took a place near the front and began flirting her white mane, hoping to draw attention to the red ribbons it was plaited with. 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
(archaic, intransitive) To jeer at; to mock.
Asinius Pollio[…], having written many invectives against Plancus, staid untill he were dead to publish them. It was rather to flurt at a blind man, and raile in a dead mans eare, and to offend a senselesse man, than incurre the danger of his revenge. 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 27, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
I am ashamed; I am scorned; I am flirted. 1621 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Wild-Goose Chase; a Comedy”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii:
(intransitive) To dart about; to move with quick, jerky motions.
Her skirt flirted around her knees like a flower petal. 2012, Lenora Worth, Sweetheart Reunion:
(transitive) To blurt out.
Chatterer flirted his tale in the saucy way he has, and his eyes twinkled. 1915, Thornton W. Burgess, chapter XXI, in The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company:
(intransitive) To play at courtship; to talk with light affection, to imply sexual attraction in a playful (especially conversational) way.
Of course, the young people flirted, for that diversion is apparently irradicable even in the "best society". 1876, Louisa May Alcott, “Scarlet Stockings”, in Silver Pitchers: and Independence:
Dr Hutchinson, who told jurors that he had been married for 37 years and that his son was a policeman, said he enjoyed flirting with the woman, was flattered by her attention and was anticipating patting her bottom again - but had no intention of seducing her. 2006 April 22, “Accuser was flirting, says don”, in The Guardian:
(intransitive) To experiment, or tentatively engage, with; to become involved in passing with.
I've thrown away my reputation, self-respect, money, health and happiness through the use of drugs and alcohol; I can teach her how fragile a reputation is, how a fool and their money are soon parted, and how dangerous it is to flirt with drugs. 2009, Kenneth Lavoie, Hold Daddy's Hand: A Father's ageless book of wisdom for his daughter:
The various episodes of thinkers flirting with the idea of an infinite universe, starting with early Greek speculations and running through Cusa in the Renaissance, came to fruition as a central element in the Scientific Revolution. 2014, David R. Topper, Idolatry and Infinity: Of Art, Math, and God, page 67:
es coquetear (to play at courtship) · sv flörta (to play at courtship) · el πετώ (to throw with a jerk) · pl kokietować (to play at courtship) · es pinchar con alguien (to play at courtship) · ta கடலை போடு (to play at courtship) · sv flirta (to play at courtship) · ca flirtar (to play at courtship) · is daðra (to play at courtship) · fr draguer (to play at courtship) · fi hakkailla (to play at courtship) · eo koketi (to play at courtship) · ca flirtejar (to play at courtship) · no å legge an på (to play at courtship) · gl flirtear (to play at courtship) · es flirtear (to play at courtship) · ru заи́грывать (to play at courtship) · ko 꼬리치다 (to play at courtship) · fr flirter (to play at courtship) · cmn 調情 /调情 (to play at courtship) · gd sùgair (to play at courtship) · hy սիրախաղ անել (to play at courtship) · sh flȅrtovati (to play at courtship) · tr sevişmek (to play at courtship) · ast galantiar (to play at courtship) · fi viskata (to throw with a jerk) · pl pogrywać (to play at courtship) · pl czarować (to play at courtship) · pl podrywać (to play at courtship) · pl przymilać się (to play at courtship) · de anbaggern (to play at courtship) · it pomiciare (to play at courtship) · fi viskaista (to throw with a jerk) · bg флиртувам (to play at courtship) · hy սիրախոսել (to play at courtship) · el παιχνιδίζω (to toss or throw about; to move playfully to and fro) · fi heitellä (to toss or throw about; to move playfully to and fro) · fi flirtata (to play at courtship) · ast mociar (to play at courtship) · ga bí ag súgradh (to play at courtship) · ru флиртова́ть (to play at courtship) · de aufreißen (to play at courtship) · el ερωτοτροπώ (to play at courtship) · hu flörtöl (to play at courtship) · pl wdzięczyć się (to play at courtship) · tr yazışmak (to play at courtship) · sw kijiko (to play at courtship) · bg тръскам (to throw with a jerk) · es galantear (to play at courtship) · sl koketirati (to play at courtship) · ru коке́тничать (to play at courtship) · mi hemahema (to play at courtship) · eo amindumi (to play at courtship) · it fare l'amore (to play at courtship) · ta எறி (to throw with a jerk) · chr ᎠᏥᏚᎥᏍᎦ (to play at courtship) · es ligar (to play at courtship) · el χοροπηδώ (to toss or throw about; to move playfully to and fro) · pl romansować (to play at courtship) · pt dar em cima de alguém (to play at courtship) · sl spogledovati (to play at courtship) · fi kiusoitella (to jeer at) · kk қырындау (to play at courtship) · sl ljubimkovati (to play at courtship) · cs flirtovat (to play at courtship) · pl flirtować (to play at courtship) · pl robić do kogoś słodkie oczy (to play at courtship) · pl mizdrzyć się (to play at courtship) · it slinguare (to play at courtship) · it limonare (to play at courtship) · de flirten (to play at courtship) · unm chëmësi (to play at courtship) · tr flört etmek (to play at courtship) · ko 추파(秋波)를 던지다 (to play at courtship) · nl flirten (to play at courtship) · hy սիրաբանել (to play at courtship) · bg размахвам (to run about) · hu udvarol (to play at courtship) · sh фле̏ртовати (to play at courtship) · eo flirti (to play at courtship) · no flørte (to play at courtship) · eo flirti (to toss or throw about; to move playfully to and fro) · gl mocear (to play at courtship) · pt flertar (to play at courtship) · el ρίχνω (to throw with a jerk) · tr yazmak (to play at courtship) · fa لاسیدن (to play at courtship) · fi flirttailla (to play at courtship) · ja 戯れる (to play at courtship) · cmn 撩 (to play at courtship) · fi heilutella (to toss or throw about; to move playfully to and fro) · tr oynaşmak (to play at courtship) · ja いちゃつく (to play at courtship) · qu chiqchiykachay (to play at courtship) · it flirtare (to play at courtship) · fi säntäillä (to run about) · el κοροϊδεύω (to jeer at) · io flirtar (to play at courtship) · ta தெளி (to throw with a jerk) · ast cortexar (to play at courtship) · cmn 打情罵俏 /打情骂俏 (to play at courtship) · el φλερτάρω (to play at courtship) · pl bałamucić (to play at courtship) · tr çıkmak (to play at courtship) · ja いちゃいちゃする (to play at courtship) · es dragonear (to play at courtship) · de anmachen (to play at courtship) · no å sjekke opp (to play at courtship) · pl zarywać (to play at courtship) · cmn 挑逗 (to play at courtship) · he פלירטט (to play at courtship)