flicker
verbEtymology From Middle English flikeren (“to flutter”), from Old English flicerian, flicorian (“to flutter”), from Proto-West Germanic *flikurōn. 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 flēogan (“to fly”).
1
To burn or shine unsteadily, or with a wavering light.
- The shadows flicker to and fro.1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Death of the Old Year”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
- 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, […]1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter III, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
2
To keep going on and off; to appear and disappear for short moments; to flutter.
- A strong desire to smash up everything in the room kept flickering in his head.
- 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.[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:
4 more examples
- 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.1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:
- I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, / And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, / And in short, I was afraid.1915 June, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, in Prufrock and Other Observations, London: The Egoist […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 13:
- 1967, Barry Mason (writer), Tom Jones (performer), Delilah I saw the light on the night that I passed by her window / I saw the flickering shadow of love on her blind
- 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.2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
3
Ambitransitive To flutter or flap.
- And flickering on her nest made short essays to sing.1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- But the child saw her; was it possible? He turned his head towards her, and flickered his baby hands, and cooed with that indescribable voice that goes to every woman's heart.1884, Margaret Oliphant, Old Lady Mary:
- Derived terms
- aflicker, flickerer, flicker goon, flickersome, flickertail, flickery, upflicker