English

Noun

flicker ‎(plural flickers)

1. An unsteady flash of light.
2. 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.

Translations

Verb

flicker ‎(third-person singular simple present flickers, present participle flickering, simple past and past participle flickered)

1. (intransitive) To burn or shine unsteadily. To burn or shine with a wavering light.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Alfred Tennyson

     The shadows flicker to and fro.

   • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter III”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:

     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, […].

2. (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.

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.

Translations

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)

a northern flicker

1. (US) A certain type of small woodpecker, especially of the genus Colaptes.

Translations

See also

• flicker on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 3

flick +‎ -er

Noun

flicker ‎(plural flickers)

1. One who flicks.

Derived terms

• bean flicker