flit

[flit]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR flit ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object), flit·ted, flit·ting.

to move lightly and swiftly; fly, dart, or skim along: bees flitting from flower to flower.

to flutter, as a bird.

to pass quickly, as time: hours flitting by.

Chiefly Scot. and North England.

to depart or die.
to change one's residence.

verb (used with object), flit·ted, flit·ting.

Chiefly Scot. to remove; transfer; oust or dispossess.

noun

a light, swift movement; flutter.

Scot. and North England. a change of residence; instance of moving to a new address.

Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a male homosexual.

Origin of flit

1150–1200; Middle English flitten < Old Norse flytja to carry, convey, Swedish flytta. See fleet²

Related formsflit·ting·ly, adverb

Synonyms for flit

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR flit ON THESAURUS.COM

1. See fly¹.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for flitted

hover, flicker, whiz, zip, dart, fly, rush, flash, run, whisk, float, sail, sweep, scud, skim, dance, pass, fleet, hurry, speed

Examples from the Web for flitted

Contemporary Examples of flitted

Lobbyist Lloyd Hand, a former aide to Lyndon Johnson, flitted from conversation to conversation.
Kissy-Face The Nation: Washington’s Power Elite Smooch Bob Schieffer
Lloyd Grove
November 18, 2014
As she departed her glance just flitted over my face in disapproval.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the Show
Robert W. Chambers
February 20, 2014
He flitted around London wearing a ludicrous gas mask over his face…to disguise himself from paparazzi?
Justin Bieber’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week
Kevin Fallon
March 8, 2013
One was the mind of the bomber, Humam al-Balawi, a man who flitted precariously between opposing camps.
How a Triple Agent Duped the CIA
The Daily Beast
June 20, 2011

Historical Examples of flitted

But she flitted away, as she had done before from the knights.
Welsh Fairy Tales
William Elliott Griffis
A smile of infinite irony, infinite sorrow, flitted and faded from her face.
Monday or Tuesday
Virginia Woolf
They flitted to and fro, scanning wide bands of the surface of Dara.
Pariah Planet
Murray Leinster
I exclaimed, and the thought of Roxalanne flitted through my mind.
Bardelys the Magnificent
Rafael Sabatini
Often across this preoccupation there flitted a thought of the Richlings.
Dr. Sevier
George W. Cable

British Dictionary definitions for flitted

flit

verb flits, flitting or flitted (intr)

to move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart

to fly rapidly and lightly; flutter

to pass quickly; fleeta memory flitted into his mind

Scot and Northern English dialect to move house

British informal to depart hurriedly and stealthily in order to avoid obligations

an informal word for elope

noun

the act or an instance of flitting

slang, mainly US a male homosexual

British informal a hurried and stealthy departure in order to avoid obligations (esp in the phrase do a flit)

See moonlight flit

Derived Formsflitter, noun

Word Origin for flit

C12: from Old Norse flytja to carry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for flitted

flit

c.1200, flutten "convey, move, take, carry away, go away," perhaps from Old Norse flytja "to remove, bring."

Theire desire ... is to goe to theire newe masters eyther on a Tewsday, or on a Thursday; for ... they say Munday flitte, Neaver sitte. [Henry Best, farming & account book, 1641]

Related: Flitted; flitting. As a noun, from 1835.