flicker
See also: Flicker
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English flikeren (“to flutter”), from Old English flicerian, flicorian (“to flutter”). Akin to Saterland Frisian flikkerje (“to flicker”), West Frisian flikkerje (“to flicker”), Dutch flikkeren (“to flicker, flutter”), German Low German flickern (“to light up, flash, flicker”). Compare Old English flacor (“flickering, fluttering”), German flackern (“to flicker, flutter”), Old English flēoġan (“to fly”).
Noun
flicker (countable and uncountable, plural flickers)
- An unsteady flash of light.
- the flicker of the dying candle
- the flicker of a poorly tuned television set
- A short moment.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess:
- It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.
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Translations
an unsteady flash of light
Verb
flicker (third-person singular simple present flickers, present participle flickering, simple past and past participle flickered)
- (intransitive) To burn or shine unsteadily, or with a wavering light.
- (Can we date this quote?) Alfred Tennyson
- The shadows flicker to and fro.
- 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter III, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
- Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze. When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth and heaping kindling on the coals, […].
- (Can we date this quote?) Alfred Tennyson
- (intransitive) To keep going on and off; to appear and disappear for short moments; to flutter.
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, Ch.3:
- There I lay on one side with a thin and rotten plank between the dead man and me, dazed with the blow to my head, and breathing hard; while the glow of torches as they came down the passage reddened and flickered on the roof above.
- 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
- The ruddy brick floor smiled up at the smoky ceiling; the oaken settles, shiny with long wear, exchanged cheerful glances with each other; plates on the dresser grinned at pots on the shelf, and the merry firelight flickered and played over everything without distinction.
- 1915, T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock":
- I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker ...
- 2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in the Guardian:
- In a city where media companies and hospitals have armed guards, this accessibility is unusual. Inside, drivers sit and chat in between shifts, the overhead fan whirring and causing the dim electric light to flicker over their faces.
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, Ch.3:
- To flutter; to flap the wings without flying.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden
- And flickering on her nest made short essays to sing.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden
Translations
to burn or shine unsteadily
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to keep going on and off
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Etymology 2
1808, American English, probably echoic of the bird's call, or from the white spotted plumage which appears to flicker.
Noun
flicker (plural flickers)
- (US) Any of certain small woodpeckers, especially of the genus Colaptes.
Derived terms
- northern flicker (Colaptes auratus)
- yellow-shafted flicker (Colaptes auratus auratus)
- red-shafted flicker (Colaptes auratus cafer)
- Caribbean flicker (Colaptes auratus chrysocaulosus)
- Guatemalan flicker (Colaptes auratus mexicanoides)
- Campo flicker (Colaptes campestris)
- Pampas flicker (Colaptes campestris)
- gilded flicker (Colaptes chrysoides)
- Fernandina's flicker (Colaptes fernandinae)
- Bermuda flicker (Colaptes oceanicus)
- Chilean flicker (Colaptes pitius)
- Andean flicker (Colaptes rupicola)
Translations
Small woodpecker of the genus Colaptes
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Derived terms
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