Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To make playfully romantic or sexual overtures.
- v. To deal playfully, triflingly, or superficially with: flirt with danger.
- v. To move abruptly or jerkily.
- v. To toss or flip suddenly.
- v. To move quickly.
- n. One given to flirting.
- n. An abrupt jerking movement.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To throw with a quick toss or jerk; fling suddenly or smartly, and carelessly or without aim; toss off or about.
- To handle with short, quick movements; make waving motions with.
- To gibe, jeer, or scoff at; flout.
- To snap the fingers at derisively.
- To scold; chide.
- To move nimbly; run or dart about; flutter restlessly; act with levity or giddiness.
- To play at courtship; practise coquettish diversions; engage in amatory pastime; in general, to make insincere advances of any kind.
- To practise gibing or jeering; scoff.
- n. A smart toss or cast; a darting or sprightly motion.
- n. A contemptuous remark; a gibe; a jeer.
- n. One who flirts; one who plays at courtship; one who coquets for pastime or adventure: said of either sex, but most commonly of a woman.
- n. A shrewish woman.
- To throw over; discard; jilt.
- In archery, to fly unsteadily: said of an arrow.
Wiktionary
- n. A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion; hence, a jeer.
- n. One who flirts; especially a woman who acts with giddiness, or plays at courtship; a coquette; a pert girl.
- n. An episode of flirting.
- adj. pert; wanton
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To throw with a jerk or quick effort; to fling suddenly
- v. To toss or throw about; to move playfully to and fro.
- v. obsolete To jeer at; to treat with contempt; to mock.
- v. To run and dart about; to act with giddiness, or from a desire to attract notice; especially, to play the coquette; to play at courtship; to coquet.
- v. obsolete To utter contemptuous language, with an air of disdain; to jeer or gibe.
- n. A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion; hence, a jeer.
- n. One who flirts; esp., a woman who acts with giddiness, or plays at courtship; a coquette; a pert girl.
- adj. obsolete Pert; wanton.
WordNet 3.0
- n. playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest
- v. talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions
- v. behave carelessly or indifferently
- n. a seductive woman who uses her sex appeal to exploit men
Etymologies
- 1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt ("to flick"), flurt ("to mock, jibe, scorn"), and flirt, flurt ("a giddy girl"). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, compare Eastern Frisian flirt ("a flick of the fingers, a light blow"), Eastern Frisian flirtje ("a giddy girl"), Low German flirtje ("a flirt"), German Flirtchen ("a flirt"), Norwegian flira ("to giggle, titter"). Perhaps from Middle English gill-flurt ("a flirt"), or an alteration of flird ("a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at"), from Middle English flerd ("mockery, fraud, deception"), from Old English fleard ("nonsense, vanity, folly, deception"). Compare Scots flird ("to talk idly, flirt, flaunt"). See flird. (Wiktionary)
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I think being a good flirt is something that kind of happens naturally when you feel comfortable and confident in yourself.”
Ask Professor Foxy: Does My Size and Not Flirting Keep Me Alone? - Feministing
“I will venture that sometimes writers write the apocalyptically good sex scene because of what Russell identifies: the lazy presumption (unless it is written by Anais Nin) that the character is a thin flirt of a disguise for the writer.”
“She was called a flirt and had elegant tattoos on her legs, left palm, and even one on her tongue.”
“The reputation of being a flirt is greatly to be dreaded by young ladies, for their company soon becomes annoying to men of sense; while those who possess similar tastes will, to be sure, laugh, dance and sing with them, to their hearts 'content, but will never ask them to be admitted to a nearer and dearer companionship.”
A Manual of Etiquette with Hints on Politeness and Good Breeding
“And a gentleman flirt is one of the most despicable creatures in the whole creation!”
A Manual of Etiquette with Hints on Politeness and Good Breeding
“In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.”
“She yearned to try it, if only in the form of that no-guarantee promise called flirt-ing.”
“It was too bad that she was called a flirt by the young men, and a stuck-up thing by the girls, when in fact she was merely more shrewd and calculating than the others, who were content to drift out of the primary schools into the shops, and out of the shops into haphazard matrimony.”
“She has never come near me since, and I have changed my opinion of her: a beguiling minx, with little taste or judgment, and more than her share of feminine lightness and caprice; an unconscionable flirt, that is all she is.”
Stories of Achievement, Volume IV (of 6) Authors and Journalists
“She was not in any sense what could be called a flirt, or a girl who planned, out of a set purpose, to make a conquest or use her powers of attractiveness to disturb the peace of her young men acquaintances.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘flirt’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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EN - pseudo-English words
English words used by foreigners in a different sense than they would be used by native speakers + madeupical "English" words that sound English but are not recognized as such by native speakers of...
top, spa, sig, DM, box, videobar, vest, tutor, polo, touringcar, topfit, abseiling and 263 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
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Pseudo-edge
The middle-aged corporate marketer's version of a teen lexicon.
ultimate, extreme, chillin, totally, bling, karma, stoke, smooth, flav, punch, ish, hype and 46 more...
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intueri's Words
inveigle, dolorous, archly, feckless, resplendent, concatenation, peripatetic, delightful, cookie, fey, ephemeral, effervescent and 347 more...
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franky's Words
formitastic, human resources, cocktail, gravatar, tequila, twitter, moloko, gmail, beeb, mp3, cover art, thumbnail and 184 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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lanas's Words
serendipitous, insouciant, charming, sanguine, dear, odd, quaint, small, tremble, blush, flirt, tryst and 248 more...
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junestag's Words
postmodernism, cat, fish, rabbit, dell, coffee, elearning, mazda, php, mysql, flash, blogger and 755 more...
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♡LOVE and things like it♡
dedicated to my man Steven, without whom i would be addicted to drugs, lying in a gutter, hating myself, or hooking somewhere :)
affectionate, amative, amatory, amiable, ammophilous, amorous, ardent, attached to, attracted to, beloved, bewitching, bitten and 404 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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the hotlist
short, sweet, epic, catchy, sassy, sexy & sizzling.
( personal list, randomness )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/...zing, epic, win, fail, hot, warp, times, clip, onyx, wonky, pwn, leet and 1493 more...
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hippietrail's Words
ginormous, résumé, bunyip, hela, ute, zelkova, tidal wave, pyramid, naïve, café, chocolate, wanker and 27 more...
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Prometheus
Words only for him.
όμο�?φος, concentric, kissable, ensorceler, beamish, pulchritudinous, inspiration, compulsion, flirt, sexpert, ambrosial, grapholagnia and 10 more...
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suunflowerss's Words
bakery, crisp, pollywog, crescent, chrysanthemum, aluminum, turquoise, bazooka, crotch rocket, paisley, vermouth, dildo and 107 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for flirt.

hillwalker what's about a possible french origine: fleureter - to say things with fleurs/flowers Oct 11, 2009
bilby
Open here I flung a shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not an minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched and sat and nothing more.
- Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Raven'. Apr 27, 2009
john Huh. Wonder what it is I've been doing all these years. Jul 28, 2008
whichbe WordNet is RIGHT - you WOMEN are trying tO EXPLOIT MEN with your FLIRT - by DEFINITION!! Jul 27, 2008