flit

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English flitten, flytten, from Old Norse flytja (“to move”), from Proto-Germanic *flutjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd- (“to flow; run”).

Cognate Icelandic flytja, Swedish flytta, Danish flytte, Norwegian flytte, Faroese flyta. Compare also Saterland Frisian flitskje (“to rush; run quickly”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /flɪt/
  • Audio (Australia):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪt

Noun

flit (plural flits)

  1. A fluttering or darting movement.
  2. A sudden departure from a property.
    I did a flit, as the landlord was due to arrive to collect the rent.
    let's do a moonlight flit, if the loanshark catches us here tomorrow without the money to pay our debts, he'll break our fingers.
  3. (physics) A particular, unexpected, short lived change of state.
    My computer just had a flit.
  4. (dated, slang) A homosexual.
Derived terms

Verb

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

  1. To move about rapidly and nimbly.
    the low buzz of insects flitting over the flowers
  2. To move quickly from one location to another.
    • 1597, Richard Hooker, chapter 5, in Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie‎[1]:
      By their means it became a received opinion, that the souls of men departing this life, do flit out of one body into some other.
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 116–117:
      The chevalier's manner was now completely altered; and Francesca wondered within herself that he could be so amusing, as he exerted himself to describe the various visitors who flitted to and fro.
  3. (physics) To unpredictably change state for short periods of time.
    My blender flits because the power cord is damaged.
  4. (UK, dialect) To move house (sometimes a sudden move to avoid debts).
  5. To move a tethered animal to a new grazing location.
  6. To be unstable; to be easily or often moved.
    • 1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
      the free soul to flitting air resign'd
Translations
See also

Adjective

flit (comparative more flit, superlative most flit)

  1. (poetic, obsolete) Fast, nimble.
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Short for fl(ow control un)it or fl(ow control dig)it.

Noun

flit (plural flits)

  1. (networking) A flow control unit or flow control digit.
    header flit

Anagrams

Antigua and Barbuda Creole English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

flit (past min flit, future go flit, completive dun flit, imperfective a flit)

  1. to spray

Indonesian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

flit (plural flit-flit)

  1. insect killer

Middle English

Noun

flit

  1. alternative form of flyt

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

flit m (definite singular fliten, uncountable)

  1. (pre-2012) alternative form of flid m

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *flit, from Proto-Germanic *flītaz, for which compare *flītan (“to strive”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /flit/
  • Rhymes: -it

Noun

flit n

  1. argument, fight
  2. arguing, fighting
  3. contest, competition

Usage notes

  • By the written period, flit almost exclusively appears in compounds; otherwise the synonym ġeflit is used. See there for usage notes, and for evidence that the /i/ is short.

Declension

Strong a-stem:

singular plural
nominative flit flitu
accusative flit flitu
genitive flites flita
dative flite flitum

Derived terms

Further reading

Papiamentu

Noun

flit

  1. fleet

References

  • Hassell, E. A. L. (1953), Dictionary English Papiamentu - Papiamentu English‎[2] (overall work in English), San Nicolas, Aruba: Lago Oil and Transport Co., section 2, page 52

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English flit, from Old Norse flytja.

Verb

flit (third-person singular simple present flits, present participle flittin, simple past and past participle flittit)

  1. To move house.
  2. To flit.

Derived terms

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish flit, from Middle Low German vlīt, vlît, from Old Saxon *flīt, from Proto-West Germanic *flīt, from Proto-Germanic *flītaz, for which compare *flītan (“to strive”).[1]

See also German Low German Fliet, Saterland Frisian Fliet, Dutch vlijt, Danish flid, Norwegian Bokmål flid, Norwegian Nynorsk flit, and German Fleiß, Fleiss.

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)

Noun

flit c

  1. diligence, industriousness, energy
    där flitens lampa brinner
    where [someone] works long hours
    • 1998, “Jag ska bli en byråkrat [I will [shall] be a bureaucrat]”, in Lasse Åberg (lyrics), Janne Schaffer (music), Electric Banana Tajm [Electric Banana Time [with jocular Swedification of "time"]]‎[3], performed by Electric Banana Band:
      Byråkrater, de har det bra. De stormtrivs på jobbet var dag. De skickar små fax hit och dit med ambition och mycket flit.
      Bureaucrats, they have it good. They feel great at work every day. They send little faxes [to] here and [to] there [hither and thither] with ambition and much diligence.

Declension

Declension of flit
nominative genitive
singular indefinite flit flits
definite fliten flitens
plural indefinite — —
definite — —

See also

References

  1. ^ van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “vlijt1”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Anagrams

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