▪ I. flirt, n.
(flɜːt)
Also 6 flirte, flyrt, 7 flert, 6–8 flurt, (7 flurte).
[f. next.]
† 1. A smart tap or blow, a rap, fillip. (Also fig.). Obs. exc. dial.
| 1577 Breton Flourish upon Fancy (Grosart) 18/1 Thus euerie one would haue a flyrt, ere I could get out free. 1621 Fletcher Pilgrim iii. iii, One flurt at him, and then I am for the voyage. c 1691 Bagford Ball. (1878) App., I'll give you a good flurt on the Ear. 1855 E. Waugh Lanc. Life (1857) 29 Aw caren't a flirt abeawt it. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Flirt, a slight blow or fillip with the thumb and finger. |
2. A sudden jerk or movement, a quick throw or cast, a darting motion. Of wind: A gust.
| c 1590 Greene Fr. Bacon vii. 119 Out with your blades..Haue a flurt and a crash. 1666 Spurstowe Spir. Chym. (1668) 116 As weak as the Grashoppers who give only a small flirt upwards, and then fall down to the Earth again. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. iii. 15 There may be some⁓times some small flurts of a Westerly Wind on these Coasts. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 102 ¶5 The next Motion is that of unfurling the Fan, in which are comprehended several little Flirts and Vibrations. 1789 G. White Selborne xl. (1853) 140 Hedge-sparrows have a remarkable flirt with their wings. 1830 N. S. Wheaton Jrnl. 205 He..tosses out his arm with a flirt and a flourish. 1860 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. in Macm. Mag. II. 58 With a joyful squeak and flirt of his hind-quarters in the air. |
† 3. A smart stroke of wit, a joke, a jest; a gibe, jeer, scoff. Obs.
| 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Eph. v. 4 Vayne flirtes and iestes. 1613 E. Hoby Counter-snarle 21 His next flurte is at my witt. a 1655 in Anecd. & Trad. (Camden) 24 She had a flurt at them presently. a 1713 T. Ellwood Autobiog. 101 He would sometimes..cast out a jesting Flurt at me. 1726 Swift Lett. Wks. 1841 II. 584 Open reproaches, jesting flirts and contumelious terms. |
† b. Of a person: One who mocks or finds fault.
| 1602 W. Bas Sword & Buckler xlv, The prescise flirts of eu'ry trades-mans stall Whose busie tongues..defiles Our honest sort with vomited reviles. |
† 4. A fickle, inconstant person.
| 1577 Breton Flourish upon Fancy (Grosart) 8/1 Fie on thee Fancie, flatteryng flyrt. 1689 T. Plunket Char. Gd. Commander 2 Nor is he one that's Valiant at a spurt; No, no, he's far from being such a flurt. |
† 5. A woman of a giddy, flighty character; ‘a pert young hussey’ (J.).
| 1562 T. Phaer æneid ix. Cc ij, Your study chief is daunse in pampryng feasts with giglet flirts. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. i. (1651) 143 A peevish drunken flurt, a waspish cholerick slut. 1623 B. Jonson Time Vind. Wks. (Rtldg.) 636/1 To salute the Skirts Of her, to whom all Ladies else are Flirts. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 84 ¶3 My aunt told me she was a forward flirt. 1774 W. Whitehead Song for Ranelagh, Plays & Poems II. 224 Ye belles, and ye flirts, and ye pert little things, Who trip in this frolicsome round. |
† b. A woman of loose character.
| 1600 Breton Pasquil's Fool's-cap 22/2 Call'd a Foolish flirt..When all the world is witnesse to her shame. 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode ii. i. (1684) 17 An idle Town Flurt, with a painted Face. 1703 Thoresby in Ray's Lett. (1718) 328 A Flurt, a light House-wife. |
6. One who flirts, or plays at courtship. a. Said of a woman.
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa I. ii. 8 She was not one of those flirts..who would give pain to a person that deserved to be well-treated. 1782 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Odes to R. Academicians v. Wks. 1812 I. 24 How else could he have caught that handsome flirt? 1796 Jane Austen Pride & Prej. viii. (1813) 202 A flirt too, in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation. 1880 Webb Goethe's Faust iii. viii, To bend the dainty little flirt To be conformable to your commands. |
b. Said of a man.
| a 1732 Gay Distress'd Wife ii. Wks. (1772) 293 A flirt, One who gives himself all the airs of making love in public. 1863 Ouida Held in Bondage I. xii. 274 Sabretasche had an universal reputation as a most unscrupulous flirt. |
c. A person to flirt with.
| 1779 Gentl. Mag. XLIX. 357 The General [Howe] has found another Desdemona at Philadelphia..who is now his Excellency's flirt. a 1817 Jane Austen Lady Susan vii. (1879) 217 When I have inspired him with greater respect for me..he may be an agreeable flirt. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxv, General Tufto is a great flirt of mine. |
7. Watchmaking. ‘A lever or other device for causing sudden movement of mechanism’ (Britten).
| 1786 Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts IV. 175 The usual way of discharging the chime is by a flirt. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 124 The independent seconds hand is generally discharged by a flirt taking into a pinion. |
8. Comb., as flirt-wort (see quot.).
| 1882 Friend Devon Plant-n., Flirtwort, Pyrethrum Parthenium, a name apparently nearly died out, but which was common in South Devon some years ago as the designation of the Feverfew. |
▪ II. flirt, v.
(flɜːt)
Also 6 flyrtt, 6–8 flurt, 7 flert.
[Onomatopœic; cf. flick, flip, flerk, spurt, squirt.]
1. trans. To propel or throw with a jerk or sudden movement; often, to propel by a blow from the finger-nail released from the thumb. Also with away, off, out. Cf. fillip v. 1.
| 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis iii. (Arb.) 84 Scylla..lurcketh, Close and slilye spying, too flirt thee nauye to rock bane. 1602 Dekker Satiromastix Wks. 1873 I. 235 Tis thy fashion to flirt inke in everie mans face. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. vi. 88 A little wand That bended end to end, and flerted from the hand Farre off itself doth cast. 1710 Swift Tatler No. 238 ¶3 That Sprinkling which some careless Quean Flirts on you from her Mop. 1735 J. Moore Columbarium 5 To keep 'em from flirting the Grain over on the Floor. 1812 G. Colman Br. Grins, Lady of Wreck i. xviii, Flirting his sweet and tiny shower Upon a milk-white April flower. 1875 Darwin Insectiv. Pl. xvii. 406 Minute particles of glass..disappeared so suddenly that I thought I had flirted them off. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. ii. xviii, ‘I don't care what you call it’, said Mab, flirting away her thimble. |
b. With immaterial obj.; esp. to blurt out (something spoken).
| 1641 Vox Borealis Dj, Then the Foole, he flirts out his folly. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, cccxli, The Arch-Bishop still Flirting Divinitie against the Throne. 1652 News fr. Low-Countr. 11 If carping Momes shall flurt in Podex's face A Flout, to blur his Matter with Disgrace. 1889 Mark Twain (Clemens) Yankee Crt. K. Arthur (Tauchn.) II. 51 Of course I whet up now and then and flirt out a minor prophecy. |
† 2. To give (a person) a sharp, sudden blow or knock; to rap, strike. Cf. fillip v. 2.
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1631) III. xii. 881/1 Flirting him vnder the chin, and on the eares. 1611 Cotgr., Nasarder, to fillip; to rap, or flirt, on the nose. 1631 Quarles Samson Poems (1717) 327 Some gibe and flout him..Whilst others flurt him on the starting lips. |
3. To give a brisk, sudden motion to; to flick. Also with out, up. to flirt a fan: to open and close it with a jerk, to wave it smartly.
| 1665 Earl of Dorset To all you Ladies viii, Whilst you..Perhaps permit some happier man To kiss your hand or flirt your fan. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. I. 343 She..flirted her fan with such a fury. 1761 F. Sheridan Sidney Bidulph II. 62 One of the windows was already up, and I flurted up the other. 1798 Bloomfield Farmer's Boy, Summer 78 The small dust-colour'd beetle..flirts his filmy wings, and looks around. 1834 R. Mudie Brit. Birds (1841) I. 11 In those birds which have a habit of flirting up the tail. 1855 Browning Lovers' Quarrel x, Teach me to flirt a fan As the Spanish ladies can. 1855 Smedley H. Coverdale iv. 20 Harry again impatiently flirted the whip over the ears of ‘My Old Aunt Sally’. 1893 R. Kipling Many Invent. 229 He flirted the dinghy round the big ship. |
b. absol. or intr. Of a turkey-cock: To set up its feathers. rare—1.
| 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes iv. iii. 186 If you had but rusht and flurted like a Turky cocke. |
† 4. a. intr. To turn up one's nose; hence, to sneer, gibe, scoff at. Also of the nostrils: To be turned up or dilated, as if sneering (the earliest recorded use). b. trans. To sneer or scoff at, flout (not clearly distinguishable from fig. use of 2). Obs.
| a. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 23 They haue..nosethrilles flyrtting vpwarde & wyde. 1603 Florio Montaigne i. l. 165 Diogenes.. in..rowling of his tub, and flurting [Fr. hochant du nez] at Alexander. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 27 Derided, and flurted at by diuers of the baser people. a 1734 North Lives (1826) I. 63 Mr. Jones..could not forbear flirting at him, as—‘Come, Mr. Deputy Attorney, what have you to say now’? |
| b. 1593 Nashe 4 Lett. Confut. Wks. (Grosart) II. 211 Titius shall not vpbraid Caius..nor Zoylus anie more flurt Homer. 1621 Fletcher Pilgrim i. i, I'le not be foold nor flurted. 1686 Catholic Representer ii. 73 You that fleer, and flurt, and blaspheme Everything you do not understand. |
5. intr. To move with a jerk or spring; to spring, dart. Of a winged creature: To take short quick flights. Also with about, away, up.
| 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis i. (Arb.) 31 Lyke bees..That flirt in soonbeams. 1601 Holland Pliny II. xx. i. 35 It wil leape & flurt in the handling..against their faces. 1680 Tom & Will 90 in Roxb. Ball., Three or four..did flirt away. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 148 In flurting about (as all Fish will when first taken). a 1800 Cowper tr. Milton's Damon 144 The sparrow..Flirts here and there, and late returns to rest. 1822 J. Flint Lett. Amer. 234 The velocity of every plunge made her long loose hair flirt up as if [etc.]. 1841 R. B. Peake Court & City ii. i. (Stage direction), As he approaches nearer, she flirts from him. 1887 Stevenson Treas. Franchard vi, With the tails of his night-shirt flirting as he turned. 1890 Gloucester Gloss. s.v., ‘The paper must have flirted into the fire.’ |
† 6. fig. To flit inconstantly from one object to another. Obs.
| 1578 T. Proctor Gorg. Gallery (1814) 133 Did love you intrap?.. That now you be flurting, and will not abide. 1707 J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 348 Do not flirt, or fly from one thing to another. |
7. To play at courtship; to practise coquetry; to make love without serious intentions. Often, to flirt with (a person); also in indirect pass.
| 1777 Garrick Prol. Sheridan's Sch. Scand., If Mrs. B. will still continue flirting. 1793 Earl of Buchan Anon. & Fugit. Ess., (1812) 261 You see them..flirting with the beauties of the day. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede 258 Every man likes to flirt with a pretty girl, and every pretty girl likes to be flirted with. 1863 Ouida Held in Bondage I. viii. 192 Scores of military men, who flirted more desperately and meant less by it than any fellows in the room. |
b. To play, toy, trifle with (something).
| 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities ii. v, Occasionally flirting with some lighter document. 1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius ii, Claudius was flirting with his fancies, and drawing pretty pictures in the smoke. |
c. trans. = to flirt with. rare—1.
| 1801 Moore Wks. T. Little, To Rosa iii. 9 Do you thus seek to flirt a number? |