Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To move about rapidly and nimbly.
  • intransitive verb To move quickly from one condition or location to another.
  • noun A fluttering or darting movement.
  • noun Informal An empty-headed, silly, often erratic person.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A flitting: removal.
  • To remove (a thing) from one place to another; transport; shift.
  • To turn; move; set in motion.
  • To remove or dispossess.
  • To move along, about, or away; remove from a place or from point to point: go off or about: generally with an implication of suddenness, swiftness, or brevity of movement.
  • To remove from one habitation to another.
  • To move lightly and swiftly; fly, dart, skim, or scud along: as, a bird flits from tree to tree; a cloud flits across the moon.
  • To flutter, as a bird.
  • Nimble; swift.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Nimble; quick; swift. [Obs.] See fleet.
  • intransitive verb To move with celerity through the air; to fly away with a rapid motion; to dart along; to fleet
  • intransitive verb To flutter; to rove on the wing.
  • intransitive verb To pass rapidly, as a light substance, from one place to another; to remove; to migrate.
  • intransitive verb Scot. & Prov. Eng. To remove from one place or habitation to another.
  • intransitive verb To be unstable; to be easily or often moved.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fluttering or darting movement.
  • noun physics A particular, unexpected, short lived change of state.
  • noun slang A homosexual.
  • verb To move about rapidly and nimbly.
  • verb To move quickly from one location to another.
  • verb physics To unpredictably change state for short periods of time.
  • verb informal To move house (especially a sudden move to avoid debts).
  • adjective poetic, obsolete Fast, nimble.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart
  • noun a secret move (to avoid paying debts)
  • noun a sudden quick movement

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English flitten, from Old Norse flytja, to carry about, convey; see pleu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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Examples

  • You'll see my name flit by at 0:40 during the first installment.

    Writing Advice from 1916—Part III scottedelman 2008

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  • These vampires are characterized by their ability to "flit" - that is, run blurringly fast.

    TheState.com: The Buzz 2010

  • These vampires are characterized by their ability to "flit" - that is, run blurringly fast.

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    Aspen Times - Top Stories 2009

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  • These vampires are characterized by their ability to "flit" -- that is, run blurringly fast.

    post-gazette.com - News 2009

  • These vampires are characterized by their ability to "flit" - that is, run blurringly fast.

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  • These vampires are characterized by their ability to "flit" - that is, run blurringly fast.

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  • These vampires are characterized by their ability to "flit" - that is, run blurringly fast.

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  • "I'd have to flit from door to door to use the bathroom." -Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris

    February 5, 2011