aflutter
English
Etymology
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /əˈflʌt.ə/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /əˈflʌt.ɚ/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (AU): (file) - Rhymes: -ʌtə(ɹ)
Adjective
aflutter (comparative more aflutter, superlative most aflutter)
- Fluttering.
- 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh and Other Poems, London: Chapman and Hall, Book 7, p. 298,[1]
- I can hear / Your heart a-flutter over the snow-hills;
- 1888, W. B. Yeats, “King Gall” in uncredited editor, Poems and Ballads of Young Ireland, Dublin: M.H. Gill, p. 43,[2]
- They will not hush, the leaves a-flutter round me—the beech leaves old
- 1949, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, New York: Pantheon, Part 1, Chapter 1, p. 61,[3]
- The winds bared her limbs, the opposing breezes set her garments aflutter as she ran, and a light air flung her locks streaming behind her.
- 1999, Oscar Hijuelos, Empress of the Splendid Season, London: Bloomsbury, p. 170,[4]
- An electric guitar lick […] imposed itself in his mind as a major symbol of virility and youth, notes rising like scimitars, aftertones aflutter like birds, the bending of a blues note like the rising arc of an erection.
- 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh and Other Poems, London: Chapman and Hall, Book 7, p. 298,[1]
- Filled or covered (with something that flutters).
- 1891, Howard Pyle, Men of Iron, New York and London: Harper, Chapter 24, p. 223,[5]
- The day being warm and sultry, the balcony was all aflutter with the feather fans of the ladies of the family and their attendants,
- 1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana, London: Macmillan, Part 4, p. 154,[6]
- Beyond this lie the gardens of Hafiz and Saadi, each containing the poet’s tomb, and many others equally delicious for their cypresses, pines, and orange trees a-flutter with white pigeons and orchestras of sparrows.
- 2000, Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, London: Fourth Estate, Part 6, Chapter 3, p. 489,[7]
- When Sammy returned from Virginia, after an interminable gray trip back up U.S. 1, he found their house in Midwood aflutter with bunting.
- 1891, Howard Pyle, Men of Iron, New York and London: Harper, Chapter 24, p. 223,[5]
- In a state of tremulous excitement, anticipation or confusion.
- 1880, George Washington Cable, The Grandissimes, New York: Scribner, Chapter 20, p. 155,[8]
- […] she rose, all a-flutter within, it is true, but with a face as nearly sedate as the inborn witchery of her eyes would allow.
- 1930, Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, Once in a Lifetime, Act III, in Burns Mantle (ed.), The Best Plays of 1930-31, New York: Dodd, Mead, 1931, p. 144,[9]
- […] in breaks Susan Walker a little more aflutter than usual. The picture is wonderful. Seeing her name in lights is wonderful. Everything is just wonderful.
- 2006, A. Mizrachi, Revenge of the Drama Queen, page 77:
- Once inside the house, everything was aflutter until I was safe and sound.
- 1880, George Washington Cable, The Grandissimes, New York: Scribner, Chapter 20, p. 155,[8]
Usage notes
Like other adjectives composed of a verb prefixed with a-, this adjective never precedes but always follows the word it modifies.
Translations
in a state of excited anticipation
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