flicker 
4f. To act lovingly; bestow caresses. 
Thtse olcle dotardes lioloura, which wol klsse and flicker, 
and besie hemself, though they may not do. 
Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
= Syn. 2. Glimwfr, fjleinii, etc. Sec- <ilarfl, v. i. 
flicker 1 *, [ME. ./WA-er : see flicker 1 , )>.] Wa- 
vering; unsteady. 
For tin asked Crist, quether man him soht 
Ala he wer man of fliker tholit. 
ilrli: Homilies (n\. Small), p. 36. 
flicker 1 (flik'er), H. [< flicker 1 , v.'] The act of 
flickering or fluttering ; a wavering or fluctuat- 
ing gleam, as of a candle ; a flutter. 
flicker 2 (flik'er), ii. [Imitated from one of the 
bird's notes.] The popular name of the golden- 
winged woodpecker, Colaptes auratus, a very 
common and handsome woodpecker of the 
United States, and of other species of the same 
genus, as the Mexican or red-shafted flicker, C. 
mexicanus, or the gilded flicker, C. chrysoides. 
Flicker, or Golden-winged Woodpecker ( Colaptes auratus}. 
The common flicker has the under surfaces of the wings 
and tail mostly golden-yellow, a profusion of round black 
spots on the light ground of the under parts, a black pec- 
toral shield, a scarlet nuchal crescent, and in the male 
black mustaches. It is about 12i inches long and 20 in 
extent of wings. It nests in holes of trees and lays numer- 
ous crystal white eggs. Also called yucker, highholder, 
yellow-winged woodpecker, and pigeon-woodpecker. 
flickeringly (flik'er-ing-li), adv. In a flickering 
manner. 
flickermouset (flik'er-mous), n.\ pi. flicker-mice 
(-mis). \\Ake flindermouse, another form of flit- 
termouse, suggested \>y flicker 1 : see flicker 1 and 
flittermouse.] The bat; the flittermouse. 
Once a bat, and ever a bat ! a rere mouse, 
And a bird o' twilight ; . . . 
Come, I will see the fKckermouse. 
B. Jonson, New Inn, iii. 1. 
flictedt, a. Same as flighted. 
flidget (flij), " and v. An obsolete form of 
fledge. 
flier, flyer (fli'er), . 1. That which flies: as, 
the bird was a high flier. 
Small birds that were powerful filers. 
The Century, XXXI. 356. 
Specifically 2. One who or that which moves 
swiftly; an animal, a person, or a thing that ex- 
hibits or is capable of great speed: as, he drove 
a span of fliers; the locomotive was a flier. 
[Colloq.] 
A moderate rider, not being an athlete or a flier on the 
one hand, nor exceptionally weak on the other, can, when 
he is in practice, get over in an hour seven or eight miles 
of ground on a tricycle. Bury and Hillier, Cycling, p. 6. 
The " Wonder, " Shrewsbury and London coach, achieved 
for itself an enviable reputation as a flyer of the first 
order, and seemed determined not to be outdone by its 
formidable adversary of the iron-road without a struggle. 
First Year of a Silken Ileign, p. 129. 
3. One who flees ; a fugitive ; a runaway. 
So, now the gates are ope : now prove good seconds ; 
'Tis for the followers fortune widens them, 
Not for the fliers. Shah., Cor., i. 4. 
With courage charge, with comeliness retire, 
Make good their ground, and then relieve their guard, 
Withstand the ent'rer, then pursue the flyer, 
New form their battle, shifting ev'ry ward. 
Drayton, Barons' Wars, ii. 
4. Some part of a machine or mechanism hav- 
ing a rapid motion, (a) A piece in a machine de- 
signed to equalize and regulate the motion of the whole 
by its own movement : as, the flier of a jack. (6) One of 
the arms attached to the spindle of a spinning-wheel, 
over which the thread passes to the bobbin, (c) The fan- 
wheel that rotates the cap of a windmill as the wind veers. 
(d) In a power printing-press, the pivoted rack at one end 
which swings automatically backward and forward to 
receive the printed sheets and lay them in a pile. Now 
more commonly called a fly. 
The sheets are removed singly by an attendant called 
a taker-off, or by a mechanical automatic arrangement 
called nfli/er. Eimjc. Brit., XXIII. 706. 
2209 
(e) One of the fork-shaped arms attached to a shaft which 
revolves in a drum or cylinder turning in the opposite di- 
rection, and used for mixiiiK the ingredients of gunpowder. 
There is a series of these arms at right angles to each other. 
The fliers and the cylinder are all made from an alloy of 
copper and tin called gun-metal. 
5. A single step or a straight flight of steps or 
stairs ; in the plural, stairs composed of straight 
flights : opposed to winding stairs. 6. A finan- 
cial venture ; a speculative investment : ap- 
plied to a purchase of stock by one not a regular 
buyer, in hope of immediate profit : as, to take 
& flier in Wall street. [U. S.] 
There are comparatively few "lambs shorn" there, and 
the temptation to take a flyer in the market does not as- 
sail the average citizen. New Princeton Rev., V. 328. 
7. A small handbill. Also called dodger. 
[U. S.] 
flier-lathe (fli'er-laTH), n. In weaving, a lay, 
lathe, or batten for beating up the weft into 
the shed and compacting it ; specifically, a sus- 
pended lathe, as distinguished from the batten 
in a frame journaled below. E. B.. Knight. 
fligger (flig'er), n. [Also fliggur; < fligge, an 
earlier form of flidge, fledge, a., + -er 1 .] A 
young bird just fledged. [Prov. Eng.] 
flight 1 (flit), n. and a. [< ME. flight, flyght, flyt, 
fligt, fluht, < AS. flyht, flight, the act or power 
of flying, = D. vlugt, vlucht, flight, the extent 
between the two extremities of a bird's wings, 
escape, a course, an aviary, = MLG. vlucht, LG. 
flugt, flight, flock of birds in flight, = Svr.flygt, 
flight, = Dan. flugt, flight, soaring (cf. equiv. 
AS. flyge = OHG. flug, MHG. vlue, G. flug = 
Icel. flugr, mod. flug, flight), < AS.fledgan (pret. 
pi. flugon), fly : see fly 1 . A different word from 
flight*, ult. < flee 1 ; but the two words have 
been confused.] I. n. 1. The act or power of 
flying; a passing through the air by the help 
of wings; volitation. 
Our soldiers' [weapons] like the night-owl's lazy 
flight . . . 
Fell gently down, as if they struck their friends. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 
In birds of vigorous flight we find the pectoral muscles 
presenting the greatest development. Amer. Cyc., II. 653. 
2. Swift motion in general; rapid movement 
or passage caused by any propelling force : as, 
the flight of a missile; a meteor's flight; the 
flight of a fish toward its prey; the flight of a 
rapidly revolving wheel. 
The arc ... waltered on the wylde flod went as hit 
lyste, . . . 
Flote forthe with the flyt of the felle wyndez. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 421. 
He too is witness, noblest of the train 
That waits on man, the /Ki/At-performing horse. 
Cowper, Task, vi. 426. 
I shot an arrow into the air, 
It fell to earth, I knew not where ; 
For so swiftly it flew, the sight 
Could not follow it in its flight. 
Longfellow, The Arrow and the Song. 
3. A number of beings or things flying or pass- 
ing through the air together ; especially, a flock 
of birds flying in company ; the birds that fly 
or migrate together ; the birds produced in the 
same season : applied specifically in the old lan- 
guage of English sport to doves and swallows, 
and in America to pigeons, and also to a swarm 
of bees. 
Att the first flight of arrowes sent 
Full four-score Scots they slew. 
Chevy Chase (Percy's Reliques, p. 142). 
Flights of angels sing thee to thy rest ! 
Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 
Sure you must have had flights of strange awkward ani- 
mals, if you can be so taken with him ! 
Walpole, Letters, II. 26. 
High o'er the restless deep, above the reach 
Of gunner's hope, vast flights of wild-ducks stretch. 
Crabbe, Works, II. 12. 
Master Simon . . . told me that, according to the most 
ancient and approved treatise on hunting, I must say a 
muster of peacocks. " In the same way," added he, with 
a slight air of pedantry, "we say & flight of doves or swal- 
lows, a bevy of quails, a herd of deer, of wrens, or cranes, 
a skulk of foxes, or a building of rooks." 
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 259. 
4. Figuratively, an excursion or sally; a pass- 
ing out of or beyond a fixed course ; a mount- 
ing or soaring: as, a flight of imagination or 
fancy ; a flight of ambition or of temper. 
These were men of high/%A( and above ordinances, and 
spake spiteful things of our Lord's Nativity. 
Evelyn, Diary, Dec. 25, 1657. 
Trust me, dear, good humour can prevail, 
When airs, and flights, and screams, and scolding fail. 
Pope, R. of the L., v. 32. 
Ev'ry idle thing 
That Fancy finds in her excursive flights. 
Cowper, Task, iv. 242. 
In the flights of his imagination, [Emerson] is like the 
strong- winged bird of passage. 
0. W. Holmes, Emerson, xiv. 
flight-head 
5. In archery: (a) The sport of shooting ar- 
rows in the manner now called roving that is, 
with roving aim instead of at a butt. See rover. 
He set up his bills here in Messina, and challenged Cupid 
at the flight. Shak., Much Ado, i. 1. 
(6) Shooting with the longbow in general, as 
distinguished from the use of the crossbow. 
See flight-arrow. 6. A continuous series of 
steps or stairs ; the part of a stairway extend- 
ing directly from one floor or one landing to 
another. 
Hastily we past, 
And up a flight of stairs into the hall. 
Tennyson, Princess, ii. 
Surrounded ... by stone-faced terraces, and approached 
on every side by noble flights of stairs. 
J. Fergmson, Hist. Arch., 1. 181. 
7. The glume or husk of oats. 8. The thin 
membrane which is detached from the coffee- 
berry in the process of roasting. 9. In the 
clapper of a bell, the dependent piece or weight 
below the striking part ; the tail. 
The tail, called the flight, is almost always requisite to 
make the clapper fly properly. 
Sir E. Beckett, Clocks and Watches, p. 359. 
10. In mach. : (a) The inclination of the arm of 
a crane or of a cat-head. (6) A wing or fin; a 
fan. 
To it [the trough of a drier] are secured iron or uteel 
flights and agitators. Sci. Amer., N. S., LV. 149. 
A number of inclined boards called flights, whose func- 
tion was to spread the meal and to gather it toward the 
bolting hopper. Sci. Amer., N. S., Supp., p. 8813. 
Time of flight, in gun. , the time required for a projec- 
tile to move through the air from the muzzle of a piece 
until it first touches the mark, ground, or water. = Syn. 3. 
Seeflockl, n. 
II. a. If. tCf.flitf = fleet*.] Swift in transit. 
Nares. 
So flight is melancholic to darke disgrace, 
And deadly drowsie to a bright good morrow? 
Copley, Fig for Fortune (159), p. 11. 
2. In sporting, belonging to a flight or flock. 
In the autumn migration, the birds [woodcock] that ha_ve 
recently arrived are called Flight birds, and are distin- 
guished by the feathers on the breast being brighter in color 
than of those that have been lying in the feeding ground 
for some time. Dogs of Great Britain and America, p. 261. 
flight 2 (flit), n. [< ME. flight, flyght, fligt, fluht 
(AS. * flyht, in this sense, not found) = OFries. 
flecht = D. vlugt, escape, = MLG. vlucht, LG. 
flugt, flight, = OHG. fluht, MHG. vhiht, Q.flucht 
= Sw. flykt = Dan. flugt, flight, escape ; < AS. 
fledn (pret. pi. flugon), etc., E. flee 1 . A differ- 
ent word from flight 1 , ult. < fly 1 ; but the two 
words have been confused.] The act of flee- 
ing; the act of running away to escape dan- 
ger or expected evil ; hasty departure. 
Wha sail take theflyghte and flee. 
Thomas of Ersseldoune (Child's Ballads, I. 98). 
They with sword and spear 
Put many foes to flight. 
The Seven Champions of Christendom (Child's Ballads, 
[I. 83). 
Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. 
Mat. xxiv. 20. 
Munro was forced to abandon his baggage, to fling his 
guns into the tanks, and to save himself by a retreat which 
might be called a flight. Macaulay, Warren Hastings. 
flight 2 * (flit), v. t. [< flight*, n.~\ To put to 
flight; rout; frighten away. 
Mount Ptoum, . . . from whence the wild bore came of 
a sudden that flighted her. North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 245. 
Philosophy ... is to be flighted and exploded among 
Christians. Glanvillc, Essays, iv. 
flight 3 *, " and n. An obsolete spelling otflite. 
flight-arrow (flit'ar"6), n. 1 . An arrow having 
a conical or pyramidal head without barbs. 
2. A long and light arrow in general ; a shaft 
or arrow for the longbow, as distinguished from 
the bolt. 
flighted (fli'ted), a. [< flight 1 + -ed?.] If. Tak- 
ing flight ; flying. 
An unusual stop of sudden silence 
Gave respite to the Arovsy-flighted steeds 
That draw the litter of close-curtain'd sleep. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 553. 
2. In her., same as feathered. 
flighter (fli'ter), n. (.< flight 1 + -er 1 .] In&rew- 
ing and distilling, a horizontal vane revolving 
over the surface of wort in a cooler, to produce 
a circular current in the liquor. 
flight-feather (flit'feTH'er), n. See feather. 
It is easy to understand that, durable as are the flight- 
feathers, they do not last forever, and are besides very 
subject to accidental breakage, the consequence of which 
would be the crippling of the bird. Encyc. Brit., III. 776. 
flight-headt (flit'hed), . A wild-headed person. 
Nares. 
Some insurrection hath been in Warwickshire, and be- 
gan the very same day that the plot should have been ex- 
ecuted ; some Popish flight-heads thinking to do wonders. 
Letter, dated 1608. 
