▪ I. flichter, n. Sc.
(ˈflɪxtə(r))
[f. next vb.]
= flicker n.3
| 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 240 In a flichter o' rainbow licht. |
▪ II. flichter, flighter, v.1 Sc.
(ˈflɪxtə(r))
Also 6 flichtir, flych-, flyghter, 9 fleighter.
[? f. flicht, flight v.; see -er5. Cf. flaughter v.2]
1. intr. Of a bird: To beat its wings, fly irregularly or feebly, flutter. Of inanimate objects: To flutter, move quivering through the air.
| 1513 Douglas æneis v. ix. 33 The foul affrayit flichtiris on hir wingis. 1635 D. Dickson Pract. Wks. (1845) I. 55 If ye will stir & flichter like a bird in a cage. 1790 A. Wilson Rabby's Mistake Poet. Wks. (1846) 101 Doos flighter't through amang the stacks. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxv, ‘It's just a branch of ivy flightering awa frae the wa'.’ |
| transf. 1871 Waddell Ps. xc. 10 A gliff it gaes by an' we flichter hame. |
2. To struggle; to tremble, quiver, throb.
| 1528 Lyndesay Dream 303 Mony ane thousand Comoun peple laye flichtrand in the fyre. 1553 Douglas' æneis v. viii. 115 The beist..can ly..flychterand in the dede thrawis [cf. flicker v. 3]. 1724 [see flichtering ppl. a. below]. |
Hence ˈflichtering vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) II. 162 My flighteren heart gangs pittie-pattie. 1768 Ross Helenore i. 1738 Sleep..for a wee her flightering breast did heal. 1785 Burns Cotter's Saturday Nt. iii, Th'expectant wee-things, toddlin, stacher through To meet their Dad wi' flichterin noise and glee. 1820 Scott Monast. iii, ‘Our leddy is half gane already, as ye may see by that fleightering of the ee-lid.’ |
▪ III. † ˈflichter, ˈflighter, v.2 Sc. Obs.
[? f. flichter, flighter, in the unrecorded sense of ‘wing’; cf. pinion vb.]
trans. To bind, pinion.
| 1680 in Wodrow Hist. Suff. Ch. Scotl. (1722) II. iii. iv. §5. 141 His Hands flightered with Ropes. 1703 Williamson Serm. bef. Gen. Assembly 48 Driven back to Lothian..tied and flightered like thieves. 1768 Ross Helenore 1229 His legs they loos'd, but flighter'd held his hands. |