1641 J. Milton Animadversions 19 Lest their various, and jangling opinions put their leavs into a flutter.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 102. ¶10 There is an infinite Variety of Motions to be made use of in the Flutter of a Fan.

1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho I. iii. 82 The drowsy murmur of the breeze..and its light flutter, as it blew freshly into the carriage.

1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) v. 36 The flutter of her beating heart.

1875 A. Maclaren Serm. 2nd Ser. viii. 138 Nor any least flutter of trembling love towards Him.

1857 C. Keene Let. in G. S. Layard Life & Lett. C. S. Keene (1892) iii. 62 I had a brief flutter down to the coast of Devon.

1883 E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leics. 376 The same fox..had given us a first flutter across the country.

1910 Heart II. 177 (heading) Auricular flutter & fibrillation.

1910 Heart II. 182 We cannot say how long the rapid auricular flutter lasted at that time.

1920 T. Lewis Mechanism & Graph. Repres. of Heart Beat xxii. 263 We may divide the simple paroxysm from the attack of flutter arbitrarily by defining the latter as a new rhythm whose rate surpasses 200 and may reach 350 per minute.

1936 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 21 Mar. 992/1 (heading) Diaphragmatic flutter with symptoms of angina pectoris.

1957 Encycl. Brit. XI. 311/2 Auricular flutter and auricular fibrillation are close cousins.

1966 D. M. Dunlop & S. Alstead Textbk. Med. Treatm. (ed. 10) 625 If flutter recurs, a second course of digitalis may succeed in establishing normal rhythm.

1969 J. Crofton & A. Douglas Respiratory Dis. xxxvi. 637/1 The rapid contraction of the diaphragm (up to 100/min or more) known as diaphragmatic tic may be a feature of encephalitis but more commonly is a hysterical phenomenon... When the rate is faster the term diaphragmatic flutter is used.

1911 H. T. Wright in C. Grahame-White & H. Harper Aeroplane 258 Another experiment was tried recently to illustrate ‘Propeller flutter’.

1916 H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 123 Propeller ‘flutter’ or vibration, may be due to faulty pitch angle, balance, camber, or surface area.

1927 Aeronaut. Research Committee Rep. & Mem. 1041 1 Since its commencement the investigation of flutter and vibration in aeroplanes has proved to be a much more complex problem than was at first realised.

1930 Flight 3 Jan. 28/1 It is certain that wing flutter would have occurred.

1933 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 37 497 It speaks volumes for the reliability and safety of the wooden airscrew that it is not called upon to undergo any endurance test, and only very occasionally a spinning tower test when flutter is suspected.

1937 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 41 233 Later appeared a statement that the design criterion for cantilever wings, which determined flutter speed and critical reversal speed, was the torque stiffness.

1960 Aeroplane 98 192/1 Blades can self-excite in much the same way as aircraft wings flutter. ‘Choking flutter’ can occur at the high axial velocities obtaining at the back end of the compressor.

1926 P. Whiteman & M. M. McBride Jazz iv. 110 A flutter-tongued, drunken whoop of an introduction that had the audience rocking.

1926 P. Whiteman & M. M. McBride Jazz ix. 201 The flutter tongue in the brasses is rather like a covey of quail flying out from ambush.

1926 P. Whiteman & M. M. McBride Jazz ix. 205 Schoenberg is also the father of the flutter on the trombone—that is, very rapid tonguing on the same note.

1944 W. Apel Harvard Dict. Music 754/1 A special type of tonguing, called Flatterzunge or flutter-tonguing, has been introduced by R. Strauss. It calls for a rolling movement of the tongue, as if pronouncing d–r–r–r.

1962 N. Del Mar Richard Strauss v. 159 The whistling of the wind is given by harp glissandi and flutes fluttertonguing with the addition of a Wind Machine.

1967 Spectator 22 Dec. 787/3 His slow glissandos, his ‘fluttertongue’ effects (familiar enough as a flautist's device).

1931 A. Nadell Projecting Sound Pict. ii. 43 Any condition that allows the film to be pulled past the sound aperture with the least trace of intermittent motion will cause flutter.

1933 C. W. Glover Pract. Acoustics for Constructor x. 126 The reflection of sound between parallel walls gives rise to a characteristic phenomenon known as flutter.

1946 Electronic Engin. 18 311 Records of a combined playing of a violin and piano—the most exacting test for ‘wow’ and ‘flutter’.

1948 P. M. Morse Vibration & Sound (ed. 2) vi. 262 Proper auditorium design is aimed, in part, at the elimination of flutter echoes.

1955 Gloss. Acoust. Terms (B.S.I.) 36 Flutter echo, a rapid multiple echo of even rate.

1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio iv. 92 Once wow or flutter have actually been recorded on to a tape or disc, I know of no means of curing it.

1967 Reader's Digest Pocket Compan. 74 An annoying flutter, caused by bad acoustics in the..concert hall, was covered up by adding reverberation.

1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xxvii. 154 Mr. B. kept me in Suspense a good while, and put me in great Flutters, before he let me into the Matter.

1747 S. Richardson Clarissa I. xvi. 97 No emotions, child! No flutters!

1768 J. Bentham Let. 16 Aug. (1968) I. 130 I will treat you with a Letter, but it must be but a short one being as usual like the french prints, all of a flutter.

1780 F. Burney Jrnl. May in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (2003) IV. 102 A strain of delight..that put her into a flutter of spirits.

1818 J. W. Croker in Croker Papers Sept. (1884) I The flutter of her nerves..makes her very miserable.

1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxi. 205 He immediately..fell into a great flutter.

1887 Poor Nellie (1888) 99 No wonder poor Adela's pulse was all in a flutter.

1981 Christian Sci. Monitor 25 Feb. 2 I've just heard Prince Charles is getting married and I'm all of a flutter.

c1825 M. M. Sherwood Houlston Tracts II. xxxi. 9 Let me never see this room in a flutter.

1853 C. Brontë Villette I. iii. 30 An etching..happened to flutter to the floor.

1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. i. 19 Here and there a leaf fluttered down.

1873 ‘Ouida’ Pascarèl I. 19 Paper money fluttered to her feet.

1600 L. Lewkenor tr. A. de Torquemada Spanish Mandeuile f. 152 They choppe downe into the Snowe, fluttering the same ouer them with theyr winges.

1789 J. Wolcot Poet. Epist. to falling Minister 24 So they, like Moths, may flutter life away!

1793 W. Cowper Beau's Reply 15 When your linnet..Had fluttered all his strength away.

1844 A. R. Smith Adventures Mr. Ledbury I. xiv. 182 Seeds, which the bird had fluttered from his cage.

1561 T. Becon Sycke Mans Salve in Wks. (1564) II. 220 My toung flottereth in my mouth, my hands tremble & shake for payne.

a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Wales 21 The weight thereof [i.e. of a cloak] is diffused in several parts, and fluttering above, all of them are supported by the Clouds.

1714 A. Pope Rape of Lock (new ed.) i. 6 Teach..little Hearts to flutter at a Beau.

1816 P. B. Shelley Alastor 45 The pulse yet lingered in his heart. It paused—it fluttered.

1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 103 The arras..Flutter'd in the besieging wind's uproar.

1859 C. Kingsley Misc. (1860) II. 289 A few rags of sail fluttered from her main and mizen.

1749 R. Smith Harmonics vi. 118 They do not beat at all, like imperfect consonances, but only flutter, at a slower or quicker rate according to the pitch of the sounds.

1819 A. Rees Cycl. XIV Flutter in Music, is a term applied by Dr. Robert Smith..to the fluttering roughness in the sound of two notes which are discords to each other.

1621 G. Markham Hungers Preuention 32 If they [wild fowl] be flutterd or fleikt into any Riuer.

1644 H. Mainwaring Sea-mans Dict. at Floane The gust hath fluttred all the saile to peeces.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 933 All unawares Fluttring his pennons vain. View more context for this quotation

1746 J. Hervey Refl. Flower-garden 122 in Medit. among Tombs The gay Butterfly flutters her painted Wings.

1771 Hist. Sir William Harrington I. xxv. 216 I have already fluttered out all the cloaths I made up for first mourning, and must buy more.

1845 E. A. Poe Raven in Poet. Wks. (1859) 48 Not a feather then he fluttered.

1864 Eton School Days i. 11 I used to flutter the ribbands of the London Croydon and South Coast coach.

1893 J. H. McCarthy Red Diamonds II. 20 Shining spaces of water fluttered by the passing oar.

1664 Shakspere's Coriolanus (F. 3) v. vi. 116 Like an Eagle in a Dove-coat, I Flutter'd your Volcians in Coriolus.

1751 S. Richardson Clarissa (ed. 3) III. iv. 37 You flutter one so!

1784 E. Hazard in J. Belknap Belknap Papers (1877) I. 382 I am so fatigued and fluttered with my walk.

1853 E. Bulwer-Lytton My Novel III. ix. xiii. 69 Nor did the great Roman general more nervously ‘flutter the dove-cots in Corioli’, than did the advance of the supposed X.Y. agitate the bosoms of Lord Spendquick and his sympathising friends.

1864 J. A. Froude Sci. Hist. in Short Stud. (1867) 2 A work which..fluttered the dove~cotes of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg.

1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 510 If I thought that your nerves could be fluttered at a small party of friends.

1940 C. P. Snow Strangers & Brothers ii. 24 ‘How are they taking it?’ said George. ‘It's fluttered the dove-cotes.’