flutter
- to wave, flap, or toss about: Banners fluttered in the breeze.
- to flap the wings rapidly; fly with flapping movements.
- to move in quick, irregular motions; vibrate.
- to beat rapidly, as the heart.
- to be tremulous or agitated.
- to go with irregular motions or aimless course: to flutter back and forth.
- to cause to flutter; vibrate; agitate.
- to throw into nervous or tremulous excitement; cause mental agitation; confuse.
- a fluttering movement: He made little nervous flutters with his hands.
- a state of nervous excitement or mental agitation: a flutter of anticipation.
- flutter kick.
- Audio. a variation in pitch resulting from rapid fluctuations in the speed of a recording.Compare wow2(def 1).
- Chiefly British. a small wager or speculative investment.
Origin of flutter
Synonyms for flutter
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comRelated Words for flutter
hover, quiver, throb, flit, flicker, drift, vibrate, flop, wiggle, shiver, wobble, tremble, flitter, bat, palpitate, ruffle, beat, pulsate, swing, quaverExamples from the Web for flutter
Contemporary Examples of flutter
There are ghosts that may flutter above the stage at the Met.
It started off small: a hint of annoyance here, a flutter of incredulity there.
There are no red carpets and you just flutter about watching films.
Carey Mulligan, Star of ‘Inside Llewyn Davis,’ on the Coen Brothers, ‘N Sync Fandom, Lorde, and MoreMarlow Stern
December 3, 2013
Just as suddenly she was gone, leaving a flutter of red curtains.
And, oh, occasionally, the golden snitch—a flying spherical ball—will flutter into the proceedings, creating chaos.
From J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels to Real Life: The Sport of Quidditch Takes FlightJace Lacob
March 14, 2012
Historical Examples of flutter
When K. insisted on carrying her upstairs, she went in a flutter.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
The flutter of the departing skirt, as he came into the room, assured him it was one of these.
The Boy Life of NapoleonEugenie Foa
And he was not even quite sure that there had been a flutter.
The Secret AgentJoseph Conrad
Miss Perry sat down in the teacher's chair, her heart all in a flutter.
He was roused from his flutter of satisfaction by hearing Mr. Burrows' voice.
flutter
- to wave or cause to wave rapidly; flap
- (intr) (of birds, butterflies, etc) to flap the wings
- (intr) to move, esp downwards, with an irregular motion
- (intr) pathol (of the auricles of the heart) to beat abnormally rapidly, esp in a regular rhythm
- to be or make nervous or restless
- (intr) to move about restlessly
- swimming to cause (the legs) to move up and down in a flutter kick or (of the legs) to move in this way
- (tr) British informal to wager or gamble (a small amount of money)
- a quick flapping or vibrating motion
- a state of nervous excitement or confusion
- excited interest; sensation; stir
- British informal a modest bet or wager
- pathol an abnormally rapid beating of the auricles of the heart (200 to 400 beats per minute), esp in a regular rhythm, sometimes resulting in heart block
- electronics a slow variation in pitch in a sound-reproducing system, similar to wow but occurring at higher frequencies
- a potentially dangerous oscillation of an aircraft, or part of an aircraft, caused by the interaction of aerodynamic forces, structural elastic reactions, and inertia
- swimming See flutter kick
- Also called: flutter tonguing music a method of sounding a wind instrument, esp the flute, with a rolling movement of the tongue
Word Origin for flutter
Word Origin and History for flutter
Old English floterian "to flutter, fly, flicker, float to and fro, be tossed by waves," frequentative of flotian "to float" (see float (v.)). Related: Fluttered; fluttering. As a noun from 1640s; meaning "state of excitement" is 1740s.
flutter
(flŭt′ər)- Abnormally rapid pulsation, especially of the atria or ventricles of the heart.