flit
English
Etymology
From Middle English flitten, flytten, from Old Norse flytja (“to move”), from Proto-Germanic *flutjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd- (“to flow; run”). Cognate Icelandic flytja, Swedish flytta, Danish flytte, Norwegian flytte, Faroese flyta. Compare also Saterland Frisian flitskje (“to rush; run quickly”).
Pronunciation
Noun
flit (plural flits)
- A fluttering or darting movement.
- (physics) A particular, unexpected, short lived change of state.
- My computer just had a flit.
- (slang) A homosexual.
- 1951, J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 18:
- 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.
- 1951, J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 18:
Derived terms
Verb
flit (third-person singular simple present flits, present participle flitting, simple past and past participle flitted)
- To move about rapidly and nimbly.
- 1855, Tennyson, Maud:
- A shadow flits before me, / Not thou, but like to thee; […]
- 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 6
- There were many apes with faces similar to his own, and further over in the book he found, under "M," some little monkeys such as he saw daily flitting through the trees of his primeval forest. But nowhere was pictured any of his own people; in all the book was none that resembled Kerchak, or Tublat, or Kala.
- 1855, Tennyson, Maud:
- To move quickly from one location to another.
- 1597, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, Chapter 5:
- By their means it became a received opinion, that the souls of men departing this life, do flit out of one body into some other.
- 1597, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, Chapter 5:
- (physics) To unpredictably change state for short periods of time.
- My blender flits because the power cord is damaged.
- (UK, Scotland, dialect) To move house (sometimes a sudden move to avoid debts).
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Jamieson to this entry?)
- 1855, Anthony Trollope, The Warden, page 199 →ISBN
- After this manner did the late Warden of Barchester Hospital accomplish his flitting, and change his residence.
- 1859, George Dasent (tr.), Popular Tales from the Norse, "The Cat on the Dovrefell":
- […] we can't give any one house-room just now, for every Christmas Eve such a pack of Trolls come down upon us that we are forced to flit, and haven't so much as a house over our own heads, to say nothing of lending one to any one else.
- To be unstable; to be easily or often moved.
- (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- the free soul to flitting air resigned
- (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
Related terms
Translations
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Adjective
flit (comparative more flit, superlative most flit)
- (poetic, obsolete) Fast, nimble.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iv:
- And in his hand two darts exceeding flit, / And deadly sharpe he held [...].
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iv:
Anagrams
Scots
Verb
flit (third-person singular simple present flits, present participle flittin, simple past flittit, past participle flittit)
- to move house
- to flit
Derived terms
Swedish
Etymology
Old Swedish flit, cognate with German Fleiss.
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Noun
flit c
- diligence, industriousness, energy
- där flitens lampa brinner
- where [someone] works long hours
- där flitens lampa brinner
Declension
Declension of flit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Uncountable | ||||
Indefinite | Definite | |||
Nominative | flit | fliten | — | — |
Genitive | flits | flitens | — | — |
Related terms
References
Anagrams
Westrobothnian
Noun
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- Fly-Tox (insecticide)
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- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪt
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Physics
- English slang
- English verbs
- British English
- Scottish English
- English dialectal terms
- Requests for quotations/Wright
- Requests for quotations/Jamieson
- Requests for date/Dryden
- English adjectives
- English poetic terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- en:Gaits
- Scots lemmas
- Scots verbs
- Swedish terms with audio links
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish common-gender nouns