flick
part of speech
verb (flick, flicks, flicked, flicking); noun (a flick, flicks)
meaning for a pupil
1) To hit or move something with a quick small movement, for example with a finger. tree →
2) To switch something on or off quickly: «flick the light switch». tree →
3) To turn pages quickly or change TV channels: «flick through a book». tree →
4) (noun) A quick, light movement or hit. tree →
5) (informal, noun) A film: «the flicks» means the cinema (old UK). tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life: flicking a switch, flicking through a comic, a horse flicking its tail. In manners, flicking things at people is rude and can hurt eyes. Phrases: «flick through», «flick a switch», «with a flick of the wrist».
examples
- He flicked the crumbs off the table. tree →
- Flick the switch to turn on the light. tree →
- I flicked through the book to find the pictures. tree →
- The horse flicked its tail at the flies. tree →
- Don't flick rubber bands; you could hurt someone's eye. tree →
- With a flick of her wrist, she spun the top. tree →
- The lizard's tongue flicked in and out. tree →
- So he awoke the wolf by flicking him across the eyes with his brush. tree →
note
Past form: flicked. «Flick through» means look quickly, not read carefully. Do not confuse with «flip» (turn over) — they overlap a little.
In the corpora
- Most American tarantulas flick itchy barbed hairs at enemies, and female tarantulas can live 20 to 30 years.
- A blue tang has a sharp spine like a little knife near its tail that it can flick out to defend itself.
- Tarantulas are mostly gentle; their bite is usually no worse than a bee sting, and some flick itchy hairs to defend themselves.
- In one stage the brain is very busy, the eyes flick about under the lids and the body twitches.
- A tail that flicks, swishes or thumps usually means the cat is annoyed.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «flick» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.