Dictionary

flitter en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ˈflɪtɚ/ (US)
• [ˈflɪɾɚ] (US)

Etymology

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).

Meanings

1. To scatter in pieces.
2. To move about rapidly and nimbly.
3. To move quickly from one condition or location to another.
   • 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. 2003, Rudy Gray, D'n'd, iUniverse, page 41:
   • The back of the group flittered in and out of my view, pulling me forward with only dim hopes of success. 2014, Daniel Freeman, “The Conquest”, in College Essays That Made a Difference, 6th edition, Penguin Random House, page 129:
   • There were two bugs flittering on either side of her. 2006, Katherine Macinnis, Kelsar, Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, page 60:
4. To flutter or quiver.

Forms

Deriveds

flittermouse · flittery · flitter down

flitter en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ˈflɪtɚ/ (US)
• [ˈflɪɾɚ] (US)

Etymology

Etymology tree English flit Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English flitter From flit + -er.

Meanings

1. A fluttering movement
   • 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. 2014, Peter Ashby, The Name of Seven:
2. A rag; a tatter; a small piece or fragment.
   • 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. 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
   • Without a flitter of a blanket o'er me 1832, Paddy Kelly's Budget:
3. Any of various hesperiid butterflies of the genus Hyarotis.
4. A small aircraft or spacecraft.
   • Small flitters were powered and made ready, and everything that carried manual controls was inspected and cleared for action. 1944 March, George Oliver Smith, “Circle of Confusion”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 33, number 1, page 54:
   • The flitter tumbled from the shimmering throat of the wormhole transit route from Port Sol to Earthport. 1994, Stephen Baxter, Ring, →ISBN, page 43:
   • The small flitters carried by the Queen for exploration work held with comfort a two-man crew—with crowding, three. 1955, Alice Mary Norton (as Andrew North), Sargasso of Space, page 53:
   • 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. 1941 July, Edward Elmer Smith, “The Vortex Blaster”, in Comet Stories, volume 1, number 5, page 10:
5. A small perceptible feeling
   • He sensed Wheeler tensing, the slightest of tremors in the stillness of the ruined chapel, a flitter of irritation. 2016, Mark Douglas-Home, The Malice of Waves:
   • Hannah couldn't stop a flitter of panic at the thought. 2014, Love Inspired September 2014:

Forms

flitter en · NOUN · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• /ˈflɪtɚ/ (US)
• [ˈflɪɾɚ] (US)

Meanings

1. (Caribbean, Southern-US, alt-of, archaic, pronunciation-spelling) Pronunciation spelling of fritter.
   alt of fritter

Forms

Deriveds

flat as a flitter