flit

«flit» in Mova's school dictionary: to move or fly quickly and lightly from one place to… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (flit, flits, flitted, flitting); noun (a flit — UK, Scotland)

meaning for a pupil

1) To flit is to move or fly quickly and lightly from one place to another, like a butterfly or a bird. tree →

2) If a thought or expression flits across your mind or face, it is there for a very short moment. tree →

3) (Scotland, northern England) To flit, or do a flit, is to move house; a «moonlight flit» is leaving secretly at night, often to avoid paying debts. tree →

sense in the lessons

In nature writing and poems, butterflies, bats and birds flit about. In stories, a smile flits across a face. A person who flits from one hobby to another never stays with one. Phrases: «flit about», «flit from… to…», «moonlight flit».

examples

• Butterflies flitted between the flowers. tree →
• A bat flitted past the window. tree →
• A smile flitted across her face. tree →
• He flits from one hobby to another. tree →
• A strange thought flitted through my mind. tree →
• The family did a moonlight flit and left no address. tree →
• Gay colors were to be seen here, and a butterfly, too, was flitting by. tree →

note

Spelling: double t in flitted, flitting. Short, light, quick movement; compare «float» (slow) and «dart» (fast and sharp).

In the corpora

• On a summer evening in Britain, a tiny shape flits round and round a street lamp.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «flit» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.