/flit/

 

/flit/

 

Verb.

 

-) Pronunciation: flɪt.

 

-) Etymology: from Middle English flitten (= to carry away, go away).

 

-) Preterite tense: flitted; preterite participle: flitted.

 

-) Present participle: flitting.

 

-) It is dated from the beginning of 1200.

Dialectal: transitively: to take away (something or someone) to another place; transport, remove.

 

Intransitively: 1. To go away from a place with brief movement; to move off to somewhere else; to shift quickly one’s position.

 

-) Synonyms: to remove, depart, to be gone.

 

[…] and she flitted out of the chamber with a promissory smile.

Eaton Barrett… The Heroine 1814

-) Particular syntax: with the preposition from + noun by which the place is designated:

 

[…] yet even at this late hour Starofsky could discern the white garments of more than one female form, glittering in the moonshine as they flitted from house to house.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, vol. 25 1829

[…] the flowers glowed so brightly beneath the summer sun, the birds sang so sweetly from the verdant boughs, and the bees flitted from sweet to sweet, with such a soothing, happy hum.

Ellen Pickering… The Squire, vol. 1 1837

-) Metaphor:

 

At that moment all regard for the mere usages of society flitted from her mind.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, vol. 25 1829

2. Dialectical use: to change one’s abode or residence.

 

3. a. (Of an animated being): to locomote or move with celerity, particularly to and fro; to go with a rapid locomotion.

 

-) Antonyms: to linger, retard, delay, tarry.

 

-) Synonyms: to hasten, hurry, accelerate, speed, scud, scurry.

 

-) Translation: moverse rápidamente, in Spanish; se déplacer rapidement, in French; muoversi rapidamente, in Italian.

They attired me for the coffin - three or four dark figures which flitted busily to and fro. As these crossed the direct line of my vision they affected me as forms; but upon passing to my side their images impressed me with the idea of shrieks, groans, and other dismal expressions of terror […]

Edgar Poe 1846

Basil got his family away to the station after dinner, and left them there, while he walked down the village street, for a closer inspection of the hotels. At the door of the largest a pair of children sported in the solitude […]; looking into the hotel, he saw a few porters and call-boys seated in statuesque repose against the wall, while the clerk pined in dreamless inactivity behind the register; some deserted ladies flitted through the door of the parlor at the side.

William Howells… The March Family 1871

When new visitors were expected at the Castle, Lady Laura flitted about their rooms, inspecting every arrangement, and thinking of the smallest minutiae.

Elizabeth Braddon… The Lovels of Arden 1871

During the day she flitted about the room in an ecstasy of pleasure, packing the things.

Thomas Hardy… Desperate Remedies 1871

b. (Of a thing): to present itself rapidly, or with a rapid movement.

At these words a vague and half-formed conception of the meaning of Dupin flitted over my mind. I seemed to be upon the verge of comprehension without power to comprehend - men, at times, find themselves upon the brink of remembrance without being able, in the end, to remember.

Edgar Poe 1841

An expression of pleasure flitted into her face.

Allan Pinkerton… The Spiritualists… 1876

[…] suddenly I thought I perceived something in the air. Affrighted, I looked around me but nothing was visible; yet in another moment something like a shadow flitted before my eyes.

Frances Burney… The Diary and Letters 1910

c. (Of a bird or other winged animal): a. To fly swiftly to and fro. b. To move the wings rapidly without flying; to flutter; to fly up and down or to and fro, without going far from the place from which it started.

 

-) Synonyms for flit: flicker, flutter, flitter.

 

[The Magpie] is extremely shy and vigilant in the vicinity of towns, where it is much molested, but less so in country places, although even there it is readily alarmed. When one pursues it openly, it flits along the walls and hedges, shifts from tree to tree, and at length flies off to a distance.

William Macgillivray… A history of British birds 1837

[…] I liked the noise of the wood, and would lie on the hay and listen to the scurry of the rabbits, the rippling note of the cushats in the tree-tops, and watch for the coming of the white owls that flitted among the trees.

John Sillars… The McBrides 1922

4. (Of a flame) to burn unsteadily.

 

-) Synonyms: flicker, flutter.

 It is impossible to melt the wax properly while the flame flits, or its edges are wavy, or it seems to gush up in flashes.

The Young Lady's Book 1829

[…] I saw a form resembling that of a woman dressed in flowing garments, who, as the flame flitted and flickered about her, seemed to wave her hand as though beckoning to me.

The Metropolitan, Vol. 29 1840

[…] a lantern, from which a pale light shone or rather flitted.

John Akerman… Tales of Other Days 1857

-) Words derived from FLIT: flitter, flit (noun), flitter, flitting, flittingly, flittingness.