Flit

English

Noun

Flit (plural Flits)

1. A fluttering or darting movement.
2. (physics) A particular, unexpected, short lived change of state.

   My computer just had a flit.

3. (slang) A homosexual.

Verb

Flit (third-person singular simple present flits, present participle flitting, simple past and past participle flitted)

1. To move about rapidly and nimbly.
   • 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.

2. To move quickly from one location to another.
3. (physics) To unpredictably change state for short periods of time.

   My blender flits because the power cord is damaged.

4. (informal) To move house (especially a sudden move to avoid debts).

Related terms

• dart
• dash
• flirt
• lunge

Adjective

Flit (comparative more Flit, superlative most Flit)

1. (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 [...].

Adverbs for Flit

errantly; feverishly; vaguely; joyously; tantalizingly; momentarily; casually; ephemerally; temporarily.

Thesaurus

advance, aeroplane, air speed, airlift, airplane, auntie, ball the jack, balloon, barrel, bat around, be airborne, beat, beating, bi-guy, bicker, bisexual, boom, bowl along, breeze, breeze along, brush, bull dyke, bum, butch, catamite, celerity, chicken, clip, coast, commute, continue, count ties, course, cover ground, cruise, cut along, dance, dart, disappear, dispatch, divagate, drift, dyke, elapse, emigrate, endure, evanesce, evaporate, expatriate, expedition, expire, fade, fag, faggot, fairy, fare, fare forth, fastness, femme, ferry, fetch, flap, flash, flee, fleet, flick, flicker, flight, flip, flitter, float, flop, flow, flow on, flurry, flutter, fly, fly low, foot, fricatrice, fruit, gad, gad about, gallivant, gang, glide, glissade, go, go about, go along, go by, go fast, go on, go pitapat, go the rounds, ground speed, gunsel, gutter, haste, hasten, hie, highball, hit the road, hit the trail, hobo, homo, homophile, homosexual, homosexualist, hop, hover, hurry, hydroplane, ice-skate, immigrate, in-migrate, instantaneousness, intermigrate, invert, jaunt, jet, knock about, knock around, knots, lapse, last, lesbian, lightning speed, make knots, meander, melt, melt like snow, migrate, miles per hour, mooch, move, move along, move on, nance, navigate, nip, nomadize, out-migrate, outstrip the wind, palpitate, palpitation, pansy, pass, pass away, pass by, pathic, peregrinate, pererrate, pitapat, pitter-patter, pour it on, precipitation, press on, proceed, progress, promptitude, promptness, prowl, pulse, punk, queen, queer, quickness, quiver, ramble, range, rapidity, remigrate, rip, roam, roll, roll on, roller-skate, round pace, rove, rpm, run, run about, run its course, run on, run out, rush, sail, sailplane, sapphist, sashay, saunter, scorch, scud, seaplane, shake, sideslip, sink, sizzle, skate, skateboard, ski, skid, skim, skip, slat, sled, sleigh, slide, slip, slither, snappiness, soar, speed, speediness, splutter, sputter, storm along, straggle, stray, stream, stroll, swarm, sweep, swift rate, swiftness, take the air, take wing, tatter, tear, tear along, throb, thunder along, toboggan, traipse, tramp, transmigrate, travel, trek, tribade, vagabond, vagabondize, vanish, velocity, volplane, walk the tracks, wander, wave, waver, wayfare, wend, whisk, whiz, wing, zing, zip, zoom

Etymology

From Old Norse flytja (“to move”). Cognate with Swedish: flytta, Danish/Norwegian: flytte, Faroese: flyta.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪt

Translations

Verb

to move about rapidly and nimbly

Finnish: säntäillä (fi)

to move quickly from one location to another

Finnish: sännätä (fi)

French: virevolter (fr)

to unpredictably change state for short periods

Finnish: pätkiä (fi)

Anagrams

• lift

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Scots

Verb

tae Flit (third-person singular simple present flits, present participle flittin, simple past flittit, past participle flittit)

1. to move house
2. to flit

Derived terms

• munelicht flittin