flittingn.
/ˈflɪtɪŋ/ 1. The action of flit v., in various senses.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > [noun]
stirringc888
pacec1300
wawingc1305
bestirring1340
movinga1382
movementa1393
startlinga1398
flittinga1400
motionc1425
shiftingc1440
agitation1573
motiveness1611
go1635
moment1641
remover1653
move1818
the world > animals > by locomotion > locomotion of animals > [noun] > flying
flirtinga1677
flitting1821
wingmanship1866
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2015 Sua lang wit flitting he þam sloght, þat wine treis he þam wroght.
a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) ii. viii. sig. G.iiiiv Yet wyll he rather abyde it and suffer it, than by the flitting from it, fall in ye dyspleasure of God.
1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 44 The Seas continual flitting and shifting its Chanel.
1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel II. 77 The flittings of the shrieking bat.
2.
a. esp. The action of removing from one abode to another; a removal. Now chiefly northern and Scottish. moonlight flitting: removal by moonlight, i.e. by night or by stealth.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > [noun] > change of residence
flittingc1175
removinga1425
remove1555
removal1605
motion1634
flit1835
move1853
shift1871
locomutationa1884
the world > action or operation > safety > escape > [noun] > stealthy
moonlight flitting1721
mizzle1789
sneak1819
moonlight flit1824
guy1889
moonlight1958
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10781 Forr galileo bitacneþþ uss Flittinng onn ennglissh spæche.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 12518 Þai..to bethleem þair flitting made.
1623 W. Lisle in tr. Ælfric Saxon Treat. Old & New Test. 21 The people returned from Chaldea to Iury..seventy yeeres after their flitting.
1721 J. Kelly Compl. Coll. Scotish Prov. 145 He has taken a Moon light flitting.
1787 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. at Flit Two flittings are as bad as one fire.
1804 W. Scott Let. 1 Aug. (1932) I. 224 I had to superintend a removal, or what we call a flitting.
b. concrete. The goods, furniture, etc. removed from one place to another at ‘a flitting’. Hence, Baggage, stores.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > a journey > [noun] > equipment for a journey > baggage
trousseauc1230
harnessc1330
fardel1388
flittinga1400
stuff?a1400
baggagec1430
trussellc1440
carriagec1450
trussagec1500
traffic1538
trussery1548
traffe1566
sumpture1567
truss1587
needment1590
luggage1596
sumptery1620
piece1809
traps1813
roll-up1831
dunnage1834
kit1834
way baggage1836
swag1853
drum1861
swag bag1892
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 3919 Þai bi night þam stal away, Wijf and barn, wit flitting hale.
c1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxxviii. 50 Ðe Schip-men sone..Twrsyt on twa Hors þare flyttyng.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) i. l. 396 All this forsuth sall in our flyttyng ga.
1637 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) II. ccl. 158 Those who would take the world and all their flitting on their back, and run away from Christ.
1823 J. Wilson Trials Margaret Lyndsay ix. 68 ‘Aye, aye, here's the flitting..frae Braehead.’
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > [noun] > sustenance or nourishment
foodOE
fosterc1000
fodnethOE
flittinga1225
livenotha1225
nourishingc1300
sustenancec1300
livelihoodc1325
nurture1340
fosteringc1386
livingc1405
nouriturea1425
nutriment?a1425
nutrition?a1425
lifehood1440
reliefa1450
nourishmentc1450
nurshingc1450
sustentationc1450
nutrimentc1485
alimenta1500
sustainmenta1500
bielda1522
creature1540
suck1584
mantiniment1588
fosterment1593
the three M's1938
a1225 St. Marher. 22 I pine of prisun þer ha wes iput in, ich hire fluttunge fond ant fleschliche fode.
c1230 Hali Meid. 27 Me beheoueð his help to fluttunge & to fode.
Draft additions June 2018
Phrases with fall and semantically related verbs.
a. English regional (northern) and Scottish. In similative phrases denoting an untidy or dishevelled appearance, as to look like something that fell off a flitting and variants; cf. sense 2.
ΚΠ
1917 E. C. Holdsworth Helen of Four Gates xv. 292 According to Teddy Trip's cousin..Martin looked as though he had ‘tumbled off a flittin'’.
1980 M. Joseph Maggie Craig iv. 77 His mother looks like something what's dropped off a flitting.
2006 D. Swann Last Days Johnny North 51 You look like you fell off a flitting, lad.
2016 Falkirk Herald 24 Dec. She was immaculately dressed..while I looked like something that had fallen off a flitting!
b. English regional (Yorkshire and Lancashire). to have fallen off a flitting and variants: to be foolish or gullible.
ΚΠ
1992 L. Michael Under Thin Moon 96 Ninety-five pounds that green blouse, she says... She must think we've all fell off a flitting, that woman.
2001 If you're Absfger & you know It in alt.buddha.short.fat.guy (Usenet newsgroup) 1 Nov. A likely story! Does she think we fell off a flitting?
2011 @CariPercy 10 Mar. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) They must think we've fallen off a flittin'!
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
flittingadj.
/ˈflɪtɪŋ/ 1. That moves from place to place; moving, roving, migratory. Obsolete exc. dialect.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > furnishing with inhabitants > migration > [adjective] > given to migration
flittingc1425
migratory1755
migrant1807
c1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. xviii. 379 Ðe flyttand Wod þai callyd ay Ðat lang tyme eftyre-hend þat day.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 702 In their flitting wanderings.
1764 T. Harmer Observ. Passages Script. iv. ii. 51 This flitting kind of life.
1829 H. D. Best Personal & Lit. Mem. 352 In the course of my moving, or, as they call it in Lincolnshire my flitting life.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > changeableness > [adjective]
slidinga900
wankleeOE
windyc1000
unsteadfastc1200
fleeting?c1225
loose?c1225
brotelc1315
unstablec1340
varyingc1340
variantc1374
motleyc1380
ungroundedc1380
muablea1393
passiblea1393
remuablea1393
changeablea1398
movablea1398
variablec1397
slidderya1400
ticklec1400
variantc1412
flitting1413
mutable?a1425
movingc1425
flaskisable1430
flickering1430
transmutablec1430
vertible1447
brittlea1450
ficklea1450
permutablec1450
unfirmc1450
uncertain1477
turnable1483
unsteadfast1483
vagrantc1522
inconstant1526
alterable?1531
stirringc1540
slippery1548
various1552
slid?1553
mutala1561
rolling1561
weathery1563
unconstant1568
interchangeable1574
fluctuant1575
stayless1575
transitive1575
voluble1575
changeling1577
queasy1579
desultory1581
huff-puff1582
unstaid1586
vagrant1586
changeful1590
floating1594
Protean1594
unstayed1594
swimming1596
anchorless1597
mobilec1600
ticklish1601
catching1603
labile1603
unrooted1604
quicksilvered1605
versatile1605
insubstantial1607
uncertain1609
brandling1611
rootless1611
squeasy1611
wind-changinga1616
insolid1618
ambulatory1625
versatilous1629
plastic1633
desultorious1637
unbottomed1641
fluid1642
fluent1648
yea-and-nay1648
versipellous1650
flexile1651
uncentred1652
variating1653
chequered1656
slideable1662
transchangeative1662
weathercock-like1663
flicketing1674
fluxa1677
lapsable1678
wanton1681
veering1684
upon the weathercock1702
contingent1703
unsettled?1726
fermentable1731
afloat1757
brickle1768
wavy1795
vagarious1798
unsettled1803
fitful1810
metamorphosical1811
undulating1815
tittupya1817
titubant1817
mutative1818
papier mâché1818
teetotum1819
vacillating1822
capricious1823
sensitive1828
quicksilvery1829
unengrafted1829
fluxionala1834
proteiform1833
liquid1835
tottlish1835
kaleidoscopic1846
versative1846
kaleidoscopical1858
tottery1861
choppy1865
variative1874
variational1879
wimbly-wambly1881
fluctuable1882
shifty1882
giveable1884
shifty1884
tippy1886
mutatory1890
upsettable1890
rocky1897
undulatory1897
streaky1898
tottly1905
tipply1906
up and down1907
inertialess1927
sometimey1946
rise-and-fall1950
switchable1961
the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [adjective]
unfastc888
unstathelfasteOE
unsteadfasta1200
fleeting?c1225
changeablea1275
ficklea1275
unstablec1290
waveringc1315
flickerc1325
loose in the haftc1325
motleyc1380
unsadc1384
variablea1387
variantc1386
ticklec1400
inconstant1402
flitting1413
brittle1420
plianta1425
mutablec1425
shittle1440
shittle-witted1448
moonishc1450
unconstant1483
unfirm1483
varying?a1500
pliablea1513
fluctuant1575
changeling1577
shittle-headed1580
cheverel1583
off and on1583
chameleon-like1589
changeful1590
limber1602
unsteady1604
ticklish1606
skittish1609
startling1619
labile1623
uncertaina1625
cheverelized1625
remuant1625
fluctuate1631
fluctuary1632
various1636
contrarious1643
epileptical1646
fluxilea1654
shittle-braineda1655
multivolent1656
totter-headed1662
on and off1668
self-inconsistent1678
weathercocka1680
whifflinga1680
versatile1682
veering1684
fast and loose1697
inconsistent1709
insteadfast1728
unfixing1810
unsteadied1814
chameleonic1821
labefact1874
ballastless1884
weathercocky1886
whiffle-minded1902
1413 Pilgr. Sowle (1859) iv. xxix. 61 Yf a gouernour be not stable, but varyaunt and flytting fro veray stedfastness.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. xi. sig. Lv The yielding ayre, which nigh too feeble found Her flitting parts.
1669 A. Woodhead tr. Life St. Teresa (1671) ii. xi. 91 The Imagination..not flitting, but such, as in apprehending and fixing on a thing, there stays.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis x, in tr. Virgil Wks. 512 It [sc. the spear] stop'd at once the Passage of his Wind, And the free Soul to flitting Air resign'd.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [adjective]
flittingc1374
aerya1398
bottomlessa1413
hollowa1529
flittering1549
wanzing1571
aerial1581
slight1585
flit1590
windy1593
filmy1594
tenuous1597
unsubstantial1597
yeasty1598
thingless1599
airy1600
spare1602
spongy1603
insubstantial1607
baselessa1616
thina1616
insolid1618
insubstantiate1621
tenuious1634
bubble1635
thin-spun1638
subventaneous1646
unsubstanceda1658
whipped1673
aericala1678
huffy1678
blatherya1693
naughty1696
substanceless1784
vapoury1818
aeriform1827
airified1837
blow-away1858
non-substantial1858
unbased1860
evasive1881
stuffless1896
fabricless1905
lighter-than-air1909
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [adjective]
slidinga900
scrithingOE
henwardOE
swifta1225
short livya1325
passing1340
flittingc1374
shadowy1374
temporalc1384
speedfula1400
transitory?c1400
brittlea1425
unabidingc1430
frail?c1450
indurablec1450
scrithel?c1475
caduke1483
transitorious1492
passanta1500
perishinga1500
caducea1513
fugitive?1518
caducal?1548
quick1548
delible1549
flittering1549
undurable?1555
shadowish1561
fleeting1563
vading1566
flightful1571
wanzing1571
transitive1575
slipping1581
diary1583
unlasting1585
never-lasting1588
flit1590
post-like1594
running1598
short-lived1598
short-winded1598
transient1599
unpermanent1607
flashy1609
of a day1612
passable1613
dureless1614
urgenta1616
waxena1616
decayable1617
horary1620
evanid1626
fugitable1628
short-dated1632
fugacious1635
ephemerala1639
impermanent1653
fungous1655
volatile1655
ephemerousa1660
unimmortal1667
timesome1674
while-being1674
of passage1680
journal1685
ephemeron1714
admovent1727
evanescent1728
meteorous1750
deciduous1763
preterient1786
ephemeridal1795
meteorica1802
meteor1803
ephemerean1804
ephemerid1804
evanescing1805
fleeted1810
fleet1812
unenduring1814
unremaining1817
unimmortalized1839
impersistent1849
flighty1850
uneternal1862
caducous1863
diurnal1866
horarious1866
brisk1879
evasive1881
picaresque1959
c1374 G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. iii. pr. vi. 78 How veyne and how flittyng a þing it is.
1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer ii. f. cccxliiiv Howe passynge is the beautie of flesshly bodyes? more flyttynge than mouable floures of sommer.
?1550 T. Becon Jewel of Joye sig. R.viiiv That oure ioye and reioysynge in the Lorde be not flittyng, transitory and of smal continuaunce.
1608 Bp. J. Hall Epist. II. iii. ii. 17 What is more flitting than time?
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey III. x. 587 The rest are forms of empty Æther made, Impassive semblance, and a flitting shade.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > moving with current of air or water > movement in or on water > [adjective] > moving freely on surface
swimmingc1000
flittingc1425
floating1600
natant1753
floateda1800
c1425 Found. St. Bartholomew's 43 Oone of them oonly cleuyd to the flittynge maste.
5. Making short rapid flights; darting lightly from point to point; gliding rapidly and softly; coming intermittently into momentary view.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > irregular movement or agitation > [adjective] > darting or intermittent
flitting1620
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > swift movement in specific manner > [adjective] > moving with sudden speed or darting
scautanda1400
lashing14..
launchanta1500
shooting1535
flitting1620
darting1664
jetting1694
arrowy1797
jaculatorial1856
fuel-injected1963
1620 F. Quarles Feast for Wormes 1207 Conuay'd with speed vpon the nimble wing Of flitting Fame.
1712 A. Pope tr. Statius First Bk. Thebais in Misc. Poems 13 Swift as she past, the flitting Ghosts withdrew.
1748 J. Hervey Contempl. Night in Medit. & Contempl. (ed. 2) II. 16 The flitting Birds, and humming Bees.
1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho I. vii. 197 The ocean's misty bed, With flitting sails.
1798–9 S. T. Coleridge Recoll. Love vii She listened with a flitting blush.
1862 Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Halliburton's Troubles III. xv. 186 A flitting smile playing on his lips.
Derivatives
ˈflittingly adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [adverb]
transitorily1576
transiently1629
evanescently1847
flittingly1847
ephemerally1848
1847 J. Craig New Universal Dict. Flittingly.
1860 J. E. Worcester Dict. Eng. Lang. (citing Coleridge).
1884 G. Gissing Unclassed III. v. ii. 22 A slight wrinkle might show itself flittingly here and there.
ˈflittingness n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > changeableness > [noun]
unstablenessc1340
varyingc1380
uncertaintyc1384
brotelnessc1386
were1390
instabilityc1422
bricklenessa1425
changeability?a1425
changeableness1447
vertibility1447
mutability?a1475
variableness?a1475
inconstance1509
mutationa1542
fickleness1548
variety1548
unconstancy1563
mobility1567
unstability1572
vicissitude1576
variousness1607
inconstancy1613
slipperinessa1618
alterableness1633
versatilousness1640
bottomlessness1642
lability1651
brittlety1652
versatileness1654
fluctuancy1659
fugitivenessa1661
alterability1661
permutability1662
unfixedness1668
mutablenessa1677
flittingnessa1680
frailness1687
flittiness1692
versability1721
plasticity1727
variability1771
unestablishment1776
fluctuabilitya1786
changefulness1791
unsettledness1799
versatility1802
harlequinism1808
fluidity1824
fitfulness1825
sensitiveness1825
insubstantiality1848
contingency1858
rootlessness1859
shiftingness1866
ficklety1888
variancy1888
impredicability1906
proteanism1909
the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [noun]
unsteadfastnessa1300
falsenessc1330
unstablenessc1380
varyingc1380
inconstancec1386
variance1390
geriness1412
instabilityc1422
changeability?a1425
mutabilitya1425
changec1425
changeableness1447
unconstancec1449
unstabilitya1470
mutableness1481
unsureness1481
instableness1483
variation1509
inconstancy1526
shittleness1530
fickleness1548
unconstancy1548
unconstantness1551
inconstantness?a1562
pliableness1562
fast and loose1575
volubility1603
levity1604
unconstability1611
flexibleness1623
vagrancy1642
self-inconsistency1655
inconsistency1665
flittingnessa1680
easiness1705
inconsistence1713
versatility1755
contrariety1762
vibration1785
changefulness1791
girouettism1825
pirouettism1839
weathercockism1843
pirouettiveness1844
volatileness1849
unfixity1856
ficklety1888
a1680 S. Charnock Several Disc. Existence of God (1682) 231 This flittingness in our Nature.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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n.c1175adj.c1374