flicker

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To move waveringly; flutter: shadows flickering on the wall.
2. v. To burn unsteadily or fitfully.
3. v. To cause to move waveringly.
4. n. A brief movement; a tremor.
5. n. An inconstant or wavering light.
6. n. A brief or slight sensation: a flicker of doubt.
7. n. Slang A movie.
8. n. Any of various large North American woodpeckers of the genus Colaptes, especially C. auratus, the common flicker, having a brown back, spotted breast, and white rump.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To flutter, as a bird; vibrate the wings rapidly.
2. To fluctuate or waver, as the light of a torch in the wind; undergo rapid and irregular changes.
3. To scintillate; sparkle.
4. To act lovingly; bestow caresses.
5. Synonyms Glimmer, Gleam, etc. See glare, intransitive verb
6. Wavering; unsteady.
7. n. The act of flickering or fluttering; a wavering or fluctuating gleam, as of a candle; a flutter.
8. n. The popular name of the golden-winged woodpecker, Colaptes auratus, a very common and handsome woodpecker of the United States, and of other species of the same genus, as the Mexican or red-shafted flicker, C. mexicanus, or the gilded flicker, C. chrysoides. The common flicker has the under surfaces of the wings and tail mostly golden-yellow, a profusion of round black spots on the light ground of the under parts, a black pectoral shield, a scarlet nuchal crescent, and in the male black mustaches. It is about 12½ inches long and 20 in extent of wings. It nests in holes of trees and lays numerous crystal white eggs. Also called yucker, highholder, yellow-winged woodpecker, and pigeon-woodpecker.
9. n. Specifically, in psychology, an unstable visual perception, occasioned by the intermittence or intensive fluctuation of stimuli.

Wiktionary

1. n. US A certain type of small woodpecker, especially of the genus Colaptes
2. n. An unsteady flash of light.
3. n. A short moment.
4. v. intransitive To burn or shine unsteadily. To burn or shine with a wavering light.
5. v. intransitive To keep going on and off; to appear and disappear for short moments; to flutter.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To flutter; to flap the wings without flying.
2. v. To waver unsteadily, like a flame in a current of air, or when about to expire.
3. n. The act of wavering or of fluttering; fluctuation; sudden and brief increase of brightness.
4. n. (Zoöl.) The golden-winged woodpecker (Colaptes aurutus); -- so called from its spring note. Called also yellow-hammer, high-holder, pigeon woodpecker, and yucca.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. North American woodpecker
2. v. flash intermittently
3. v. move back and forth very rapidly
4. n. the act of moving back and forth
5. n. a momentary flash of light
6. v. shine unsteadily