# flitter
## English
### Pronunciation

* (US) IPA: /ˈflɪtɚ/, [ˈflɪɾɚ]
* Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)

### Etymology 1

From Middle English flytteren, frequentative form of flitten, flytten, flütten, possibly from Old Norse flytja (“to carry about, convey”), equivalent to flit +‎ -er (frequentative suffix).

#### Verb

flitter (third-person singular simple present flitters, present participle flittering, simple past and past participle flittered)
* To scatter in pieces.
* To move about rapidly and nimbly.
* To move quickly from one condition or location to another.
** 2003, Rudy Gray, D'n'd, iUniverse, page 41:How she remembered the gray-feathered titmouse flittering about as she stared unbelievingly at the grave of her sister and clung to Reese, then five years old.
** 2006, Katherine Macinnis, Kelsar, Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, page 60:There were two bugs flittering on either side of her.
** 2014, Daniel Freeman, “The Conquest”, in College Essays That Made a Difference, 6th edition, Penguin Random House, page 129:The back of the group flittered in and out of my view, pulling me forward with only dim hopes of success.
* To flutter or quiver.

##### Derived terms

* flitter down
* flittermouse
* flittery

### Etymology 2

From flit +‎ -er.

#### Noun

flitter (plural flitters)
* A fluttering movement
** 2014, Peter Ashby, The Name of Seven:A waxing moon riding high in the sky and a flitter of bats about the rooftops, dipping and swerving as they gathered up the gnats that danced there in ephemeral clouds.
* A rag; a tatter; a small piece or fragment.
** 1832, Paddy Kelly's Budget:Without a flitter of a blanket o'er me
** 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:But to return to where we left her, I see her still, propped up in a kind of stupor against one of the walls in which this wretched edifice abounds, her long grey greasy hair framing in its cowl of scrofulous mats a face where pallor, languor, hunger, acne, recent dirt, immemorial chagrin and surplus hair seemed to dispute the mastery. Flitters of perforated starch entwine an ear.
* Any of various hesperiid butterflies of the genus Hyarotis.
* (science fiction) A small aircraft or spacecraft.
** 1941 July, Edward Elmer Smith, “The Vortex Blaster”, in Comet Stories, volume 1, number 5, page 10:Then all three went out to the flitter. A tiny speedster, really; a torpedo bearing stubby wings and the ludicrous tail-surfaces, the multifarious driving-, braking-, side-, top-, and under-jets so characteristic of the tricky, cranky, but ultra-maneuverable breed.
** 1944 March, George Oliver Smith, “Circle of Confusion”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 33, number 1, page 54:Small flitters were powered and made ready, and everything that carried manual controls was inspected and cleared for action.
** 1955, Alice Mary Norton (as Andrew North), Sargasso of Space, page 53:The small flitters carried by the Queen for exploration work held with comfort a two-man crew—with crowding, three.
** 1994, Stephen Baxter, Ring, →ISBN, page 43:The flitter tumbled from the shimmering throat of the wormhole transit route from Port Sol to Earthport.
* A small perceptible feeling
** 2014, Love Inspired September 2014:Hannah couldn't stop a flitter of panic at the thought.
** 2016, Mark Douglas-Home, The Malice of Waves:He sensed Wheeler tensing, the slightest of tremors in the stillness of the ruined chapel, a flitter of irritation.

### Etymology 3
#### Noun

flitter (plural flitters)
* (archaic Southern US, Caribbean) Pronunciation spelling of fritter.

##### Derived terms

* flat as a flitter

#### References

* (aircraft): Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “flitter”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 66.
* (aircraft): Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2025), “flitter n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
* “flitter”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

## German
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Verb

flitter
* inflection of flittern:
** first-person singular present
** singular imperative