▪ I. flutter, n.
(ˈflʌtə(r))
[f. next vb.]
1. a. A fluttering; the action or condition of fluttering (whether in a trans. or intr. sense).
| 1641 Milton Animadv. 19 Lest their various and jangling opinions put their leavs into a flutter. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 102 ¶10 There is an infinite Variety of Motions to be made use of in the flutter of a Fan. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho iii, The drowsy murmur of the breeze..and its light flutter as it blew freshly into the carriage. 1848 Dickens Dombey (C.D. ed.) v. 32 The flutter of her beating heart. 1875 McLaren Serm. Ser. ii. viii. 138 Nor any least flutter of trembling love towards Him. |
b. A ‘run’, a ‘burst’.
colloq.| 1857 C. Keene Let. in G. S. Layard Life iii. (1892) 62, I had a brief flutter down to the coast of Devon. 1883 E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestersh. 376 The same fox..had given us a first flutter across the country. |
c. Med. Abnormal contractions of a muscular organ that are very rapid but regular.
| 1910 Heart II. 177 (heading) Auricular flutter & fibrillation. Ibid. 182 We cannot say how long the rapid auricular flutter lasted at that time. 1920 T. Lewis Mechanism & Graph. Repres. of Heart Beat xxii. 263 We may divide the simple paroxysm from the attack of flutter arbitrarily by defining the latter as a new rhythm whose rate surpasses 200 and may reach 350 per minute. 1936 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 21 Mar. 992/1 (heading) Diaphragmatic flutter with symptoms of angina pectoris. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XI. 311/2 Auricular flutter and auricular fibrillation are close cousins. 1966 Dunlop & Alstead Textbk. Med. Treatm. (ed. 10) 625 If flutter recurs, a second course of digitalis may succeed in establishing normal rhythm. 1969 Crofton & Douglas Respiratory Dis. xxxvi. 637/1 The rapid contraction of the diaphragm (up to 100/min or more) known as diaphragmatic tic may be a feature of encephalitis but more commonly is a hysterical phenomenon... When the rate is faster the term diaphragmatic flutter is used. |
d. Abnormal oscillation of a wing or other part of an aircraft.
| 1911 H. T. Wright in Grahame-White & Harper Aeroplane 258 Another experiment was tried recently to illustrate ‘Propeller flutter’. 1916 H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 123 Propeller ‘flutter’ or vibration, may be due to faulty pitch angle, balance, camber, or surface area. 1927 Aeronaut. Research Committee Rep. & Mem. 1041 (1925) 1 Since its commencement the investigation of flutter and vibration in aeroplanes has proved to be a much more complex problem than was at first realised. 1930 Flight 3 Jan. 28/1 It is certain that wing flutter would have occurred. 1933 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 497 It speaks volumes for the reliability and safety of the wooden airscrew that it is not called upon to undergo any endurance test, and only very occasionally a spinning tower test when flutter is suspected. 1937 Ibid. XLI. 233 Later appeared a statement that the design criterion for cantilever wings, which determined flutter speed and critical reversal speed, was the torque stiffness. 1960 Aeroplane XCVIII. 192/1 Blades can self-excite in much the same way as aircraft wings flutter. ‘Choking flutter’ can occur at the high axial velocities obtaining at the back end of the compressor. |
e. Rapid tonguing in playing wind instruments. Usu.
attrib. and
Comb., as
flutter-tongue,
flutter-tongued ppl. adj.,
flutter-tonguing vbl. n.| 1926 Whiteman & McBride Jazz iv. 110 A flutter-tongued, drunken whoop of an introduction that had the audience rocking. Ibid. ix. 201 The flutter tongue in the brasses is rather like a covey of quail flying out from ambush. Ibid. 205 Schoenberg is also the father of the flutter on the trombone—that is, very rapid tonguing on the same note. 1944 W. Apel Harvard Dict. Mus. (1960) 754/1 A special type of tonguing, called Flatter⁓zunge or flutter-tonguing, has been introduced by R. Strauss. It calls for a rolling movement of the tongue, as if pronouncing d-r-r-r. 1962 N. Del Mar R. Strauss v. 159 The whistling of the wind is given by harp glissandi and flutes fluttertonguing with the addition of a Wind Machine. 1967 Spectator 22 Dec. 787/3 His slow glissandos, his ‘fluttertongue’ effects (familiar enough as a flautist's device). |
f. A rapid fluctuation in the pitch or loudness of a sound (in sound reproduction
usu. the former).
| 1931 A. Nadell Projecting Sound Pict. ii. 43 Any condition that allows the film to be pulled past the sound aperture with the least trace of intermittent motion will cause flutter. 1933 C. W. Glover Pract. Acoustics for Constructor x. 126 The reflection of sound between parallel walls gives rise to a characteristic phenomenon known as flutter. 1946 Electronic Engin. XVIII. 311 Records of a combined playing of a violin and piano—the most exacting test for ‘wow’ and ‘flutter’. 1948 P. M. Morse Vibration & Sound (ed. 2) vi. 262 Proper auditorium design is aimed, in part, at the elimination of flutter echoes. 1955 Gloss. Acoust. Terms (B.S.I.) 36 Flutter echo, a rapid multiple echo of even rate. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio iv. 92 Once wow or flutter have actually been recorded on to a tape or disc, I know of no means of curing it. 1967 Reader's Digest Pocket Compan. 74 An annoying flutter, caused by bad acoustics in the..concert hall, was covered up by adding reverberation. |
2. a. An agitated condition, a state of tremulous excitement.
Esp. in phrases,
to be in, fall, put, etc. into a flutter, all of a flutter.
| 1742 Richardson Pamela III. xxvii. 154 Mr. B. kept me in Suspense a good while and put me in great Flutters, before he let me into the Matter. 1748 ― Clarissa (1811) I. xvi. 107 No emotions, child! no flutters! 1768 J. Bentham Let. 16 Aug. (1968) I. 130, I will treat you with a Letter, but it must be but a short one being as usual like the french prints, all of a flutter. 1780 F. Burney Diary May, A strain of delight..that put her into a flutter of spirits. 1818 J. W. Croker in Croker Papers (1884) Sept., The flutter of her nerves..makes her very miserable. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxi, He immediately..fell into a great flutter. 1887 Poor Nellie (1888) 99 No wonder poor Adela's pulse was all in a flutter. 1981 Christian Science Monitor 25 Feb. 2 I've just heard Prince Charles is getting married and I'm all of a flutter. |
b. A disordered or untidy state.
| c 1825 Mrs. Sherwood Houlston Tracts II. xxxi. 9 Let me never see this room in a flutter. |
† 3. Ostentatious display, fuss, sensation, show, stir.
Esp. in
phr. to make a (or their) flutter: to make a noise in the world.
Obs.| 1667 Pepys Diary 30 Aug., I never knew people in my life that make their flutter, that do things so meanly. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. 58 They would..make a mighty flutter and triumph. c 1700 Pope Artemisia 24 A stately, worthless animal..All flutter, pride, and talk. 1812 Examiner 12 Oct. 652/2 The fanfarronade and flutter of the favourite Hussars. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. xviii. (1869) 369 Why then all this flutter. |
4. slang. An attempt or ‘shy’ at anything; an exciting venture at betting or cards. Now
usu. used of speculation or betting on a small scale.
| 1874 Slang Dict. s.v., ‘I'll have a flutter for it’ means I'll have a good try for it. 1880 Payn Confid. Agent I. 134, I am not funky of you at any game, and I want a ‘flutter’. 1883 Echo 26 Feb. 4/2 (Farmer), I fancy the animal named will at any rate afford backers a flutter for their money. 1900 J. Robinson Life Time S. Afr. 366 The opportunities of the share market were open to the humblest operator. Men and youths, women and maidens, all could have a ‘flutter’. 1930 Cambridge Daily News 24 Sept. 7/6 The shares ought to be worth a mild flutter at round 8s. 6d. 1967 Listener 13 Apr. 479/1 Money-raising efforts..like selling charity Christmas cards, a rake-off from football pools, and other flutters of various kinds. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
flutter-headed adj.;
flutter-mill U.S., a mill worked by a flutter-wheel;
flutter-pate, a flighty or light-headed person;
flutter-wheel (see
quot. 1874).
| 1892 Ld. Lytton King Poppy Prol. 248 The snowy-vested *flutter-headed flower. |
| 1866 C. H. Smith Bill Arp 85 The Choctaw children built their *flutter mills. 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling i. 5 His knife was snug in his pocket;..he had planned as long ago as Christmas, to make himself a flutter-mill. |
| 1894 Yellow Bk. Apr. 65 Only fools and *flutterpates do not seek reverently for what is charming in their own day. |
| 1817 Index of Patents (1874) 559 *Flutter-wheels, letting water on. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Flutter-wheel. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 894 Flutter wheel, a water-wheel of moderate diameter placed at the bottom of a chute so as to receive the impact of the head of water in the chute and penstock. |
▪ II. flutter, v. (
ˈflʌtə(r))
Forms: 1
flot(e)orian, 3–4
flot(t)eren,
-in,
-yn, (4
flooter,) 4–6
floter,
-tre, 4–7, 9
Sc. flotter, 6–
flutter.
[OE. flotorian, a frequentative formation on flot- weak-grade of root of fléotan fleet v.] † 1. intr. To be borne or lie tossing on the waves; to float to and fro.
Obs.| a 1000 Gloss. Prudentius (Record) 150 Flotorode, fertur fluctibus. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 304/153 And so to floteri in þe grete se! c 1400 Destr. Troy 12524 All the freikes in the flode floterand aboue. c 1470 Henry Wallace vii. 1210 Vij thousand large at anys flottryt in Forth. 1506 Sir R. Guylforde Pilgr. (Camden) 67 We..laye and flotred in the see right werely by reason of the sayd tedyous calme. a 1800 Sir P. Spence xv. in Jamieson Ballads (1806) I. 160 Mony was the feather bed That flotter'd on the faem. |
| fig. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 392 Ðin heorte floterað on ðissere worulde ᵹytsunge. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. pr. xi. (Camb. MS.) 78 Either alle thinges ben referred and browht to nowht and floteryn with owte gouernour..or [etc.]. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. Prol. 164 Thow ald hasart lychour..That flotteris furth euermair in sluggardry. |
2. a. Of birds, etc.: To move or flap the wings rapidly without flying or with short flights; to move up and down or to and fro in quick irregular motions, or hang upon wing in the air.
| a 1000 Gloss. Prudentius (Record) 150 Flotorodon, prævolant. c 1340 Cursor M. 1781 (Trin.) Þe foules flotered þo on heȝe. 1535 Coverdale Isa. xxxi. 5 Like as byrdes flotre aboute their nestes. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iv. Wks. 1856 I. 45 Troopes of pide butterflies, that flutter still In greatnesse summer. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xv. 252 The parrot..had fluttered a good way off. 1824 Byron Juan xv. xxvii, March, my Muse! If you cannot fly, yet flutter. 1850 McCosh Div. Govt. iii. ii. (1874) 345 Like the moth fluttering about the light which is to consume it. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 204 The belfry..Fluttered about..By chattering daws. |
| transf. and fig. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xvi. 91 He flotereth not so ofte aboute the eeris of the lay peple. 1591 Sidney Astr. & Stella cviii, My yong soule flutters to thee his nest. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 80 He flutters up and down like a Butterfly in a Garden. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. IV. lxi. 212 Hans's talk naturally fluttered towards mischief. |
b. To move with a light quivering motion through the air.
| 1853 C. Brontë Villette iii, An etching..happened to flutter to the floor. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt (1868) 10 Here and there a leaf fluttered down. 1873 Ouida Pascarel I. 19 Paper money fluttered to her feet. |
c. quasi-trans. with
adv. or
prep., expressing the result of a ‘fluttering’ movement.
| 1600 F. Walker Sp. Mandeville 152 a, They choppe downe into the Snowe, fluttering the same ouer them with theyr winges. 1789 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Ep. to falling Minis. Wks. 1812 II. 125 So they, like Moths, may flutter life away. 1793 Cowper Beau's Reply 15 When your linnet..Had fluttered all his strength away. 1844 Alb. Smith Adv. Mr. Ledbury I. xiv. 103 Seeds, which the bird had fluttered from his cage. |
3. transf. To move about aimlessly, restlessly, sportively, or ostentatiously; to flit, hover.
| 1694 tr. Milton's Lett. State (1851) 372 Now he resides at Paris, or rather flutters unpunish'd about the City. 1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 196 One flaunts in rags, one flutters in brocade. 1779 Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 25 Oct., I hope Mr. Thrale..at night flutters about the rooms. 1877 Black Green Past. xliv. (1878) 354 She had kept fluttering about the hall, bothering the patient clerks with inquiries. |
4. a. To move about or to and fro with quick vibrations or undulations; to quiver. Of the heart or pulse: To beat rapidly and irregularly.
| 1561 Becon Sicke Mannes Salve Wks. 1564 II. 220 My toung flottereth in my mouth, my hands tremble & shake for payne. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 513 The weight [of a cloak] is diffused in several parts, and, fluttering above, all of them are supported by the clouds. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock i. 90 Teach..little hearts to flutter at a Beau. 1815 Shelley Alastor 659 The pulse yet lingered in his heart. It paused—it fluttered. 1820 Keats Eve St. Agnes xl, The arras..Flutter'd in the besieging wind's uproar. 1859 Kingsley Misc. (1860) II. 289 A few rags of sail fluttered from her main and mizen. |
b. Of wind or flame: To blow or flicker lightly and intermittently. Of water: To ripple.
| 1638 N. Rowe in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1888) IV. 3 Once the winde fluttered a little, whereuppon wee went to sea. 1811 Pinkerton Petral. II. 554 A light, accompanied by a flame, fluttering from time to time on the surface. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 46 Down the rock the shallow water falls, Wild fluttering through the stones in feeble whimpering brawls. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic vi, Anyhow there they [tongues of flame] flutter. |
| fig. 1844 Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile Poems 1850 I. 32 Its meaning flutters in me like a flame. |
† c. Music. (See
quot. 1819.)
Obs.| 1759 R. Smith Harmonics (ed. 2) 97 They do not beat at all, like imperfect consonances, but only flutter, at a slower or quicker rate according to the pitch of the sounds. 1819 Rees Cycl., Flutter in Music, is a term applied by Dr. Robert Smith..to the fluttering roughness in the sound of two notes which are discords to each other. |
5. To tremble with excitement; to be excited with hope, apprehension, or pleasure, etc.
| 1668 H. More Div. Dial. iii. xxxiv. (1713) 273 O how do I flutter to be acquainted with this kind of People. 1754 Richardson Grandison (1781) II. v. 73, I fluttered like a fool. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lv, Fluttering with her own audacity. 1865 Merivale Rom. Emp. VIII. lxv. 162 All the tribes of the far East were fluttering with the anticipation of his descent upon them. |
6. trans. (
causatively).
a. To cause to flutter; to move (a thing) in quick irregular motions; to agitate, ruffle. Also
† to flutter (a thing) into rags, to pieces, etc. to flutter out: to wear out by ‘fluttering’.
to flutter the ribbands of (a coach) (slang): to drive.
| 1621 Markham Fowling 32 If they [wild fowl] be flutterd or fleikt into any Riuer. 1644 H. Manwayring Sea-man's Dict. s.v. Floane, The gust hath fluttred all the saile to peeces. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 933 All unawares, Fluttering his pennons vain. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 168 The gay butterfly flutters her painted wings. 1771 Hull Sir W. Harrington I. 216, I have already fluttered out all the cloaths I made up for first mourning, and must buy more. 1845 Poe Raven Poems (1859) 48 Not a feather then he fluttered. 1864 Eton Sch. Days i. 11, I used to flutter the ribbands of the London Croydon and South Coast coach. 1893 McCarthy Red Diamonds II. 20 Shining spaces of water fluttered by the passing oar. |
b. fig. To throw (a person) into confusion, agitation, or tremulous excitement.
to flutter the dove-cot(e)s: to alarm, or cause excited discussion among, quiet people (
cf. quot. 1664).
| 1664 Shakspere's Cor. (F. 3) v. vi. 116 Like an Eagle in a Dove-coat, I Flutter'd your Volcians in Coriolus. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 39 You flutter one so! 1784 E. Hazard in Belknap Papers (1877) I. 382, I am so fatigued and fluttered with my walk. 1853 Lytton My Novel III. ix. xiii. 69 Nor did the great Roman general more nervously ‘flutter the dove⁓cots in Corioli’, than did the advance of the supposed X.Y. agitate the bosoms of Lord Spendquick and his sympathising friends. 1864 Froude Short Stud., Sc. Hist. (1867) 2 A work which..fluttered the dove⁓cotes of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 45 If I thought that your nerves could be fluttered at a small party of friends. 1940 C. P. Snow Strangers & Brothers ii. 24 ‘How are they taking it?’ said George. ‘It's fluttered the dove-cotes.’ |
7. intr. (
slang). To ‘toss’
for anything.
| 1874 in Slang Dict. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 31 July 3/1 The three American girls..were seen..‘fluttering’ for the upper berth in their cabin. |