flit

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“
These vampires are characterized by their ability to "flit" -- that is, run blurringly fast.

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Definitions (18)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. intransitive verb To move about rapidly and nimbly.
  2. intransitive verb To move quickly from one condition or location to another.
  3. noun A fluttering or darting movement.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • But perhaps the best reason for Shearer's instant departure would be no reason at all: an inexplicable flit, a bewildering shemozzle. —  Football news, match reports and fixtures | guardian.co.uk
  • We are as light as butterflies -- though we flit, flit, flit around in the sunshine and imagine that we are eagles flapping our broad wings. —  Latest Articles
  • Dismissed! Now--flit Newman flitted--fast--and Barbara, turning to her husband, opened her mouth to speak and shut it. —  Subspace Survivors
  • But now she was on her way to the White Mountains for a summer flit, and she'd just remembered Marjorie for the first time in three years Goodness!" —  Torchy, Private Sec.
  • "Of course you know him Yes Do introduce me to him She had seen a faintly doubtful expression flit rapidly across his face, and noticed that Mr. Crayford was already surrounded. —  The Way of Ambition
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same contextWord Family

flit:   flitting
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English flitten, from Old Norse flytja, to carry about, convey; see pleu- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English flitten, flytten, flutten, transitive remove (a thing) from one place to another, intransitive remove, move, migrate, depart, from Icelandic flytja, transitive remove, carry, export or import, reflexive flytjask, remove, migrate, = Swedish flytta = Danish flytte, transitive remove, transfer, convey, intransitive remove, depart. Prob. not connected with Icelandic fljōta, Anglo-Saxon fleótan, English fleet, float, and therefore not connected with English fleet in its later sense (Middle English and modern English) of ‘hasten’; but fleet in this sense and fleet, a., and prob. flitter and flutter, have affected the modern use of flit, which did not orig, imply swiftness or lightness of motion.
  2. from flit, v.
  3. A perversion of fleet, in imitation of flit.
 

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/flɪt/
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