a. Nimble; quick; swift. [ Obs. ] See Fleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flitted p. pr. & vb. n. Flitting ] [ OE. flitten, flutten, to carry away; cf. Icel. flytja, Sw. flytta, Dan. flytte. √84. Cf. Fleet, v. i. ] 1. To move with celerity through the air; to fly away with a rapid motion; to dart along; to fleet; as, a bird flits away; a cloud flits along. [ 1913 Webster ]

A shadow flits before me. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To flutter; to rove on the wing. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To pass rapidly, as a light substance, from one place to another; to remove; to migrate. [ 1913 Webster ]

It became a received opinion, that the souls of men, departing this life, did flit out of one body into some other. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To remove from one place or habitation to another. [ Scot. & Prov. Eng. ] Wright. Jamieson. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To be unstable; to be easily or often moved. [ 1913 Webster ]

And the free soul to flitting air resigned. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Flitches [ OE. flicche, flikke, AS. flicce, akin to Icel. flikki; cf. Icel. flīk flap, tatter; perh. akin to E. fleck. Cf. Flick, n. ] 1. The side of a hog salted and cured; a side of bacon. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One of several planks, smaller timbers, or iron plates, which are secured together, side by side, to make a large girder or built beam. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The outside piece of a sawed log; a slab. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flitched p. pr. & vb. n. Flitching. ] [ See Flitch, n. ] To cut into, or off in, flitches or strips; as, to flitch logs; to flitch bacon. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. i. [ AS. flītan to strive, contend, quarrel; akin to G. fleiss industry. ] To scold; to quarrel. [ Prov. Eng. ] Grose. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To flutter. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To flutter; to move quickly; as, to flitter the cards. [ R. ] Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. G. flitter spangle, tinsel, flittern to make a tremulous motion, to glitter. Cf. Flitter, v. i. ] A rag; a tatter; a small piece or fragment. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Flitter, v.i. + mouse; cf. G. fledermaus, OHG. fledarmūs. Cf. Flickermouse, Flindermouse. ] (Zool.) A bat; -- called also flickermouse, flindermouse, and flintymouse. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. A term applied to the bark obtained from young oak trees. McElrath. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Flitty. ] Unsteadiness; levity; lightness. [ Obs. ] Bp. Hopkins. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A flying with lightness and celerity; a fluttering. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A removal from one habitation to another. [ Scot. & Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A neighbor had lent his cart for the flitting, and it was now standing loaded at the door, ready to move away. Jeffrey. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a flitting manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ From Flit. ] Unstable; fluttering. [ Obs. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ AS. flīt. See Flite. ] Strife; dispute; abusive or upbraiding talk, as in fliting; wrangling. [ Obs. or Scot. & Prov. Eng. ]

The bird of Pallas has also a good “flyte” on the moral side . . . in his suggestion that the principal effect of the nightingale's song is to make women false to their husbands. Saintsbury. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

{ } n. Contention; strife; scolding; specif., a kind of metrical contest between two persons, popular in Scotland in the 16th century. [ Obs. or Scot. ]

These “flytings” consisted of alternate torrents of sheer Billingsgate poured upon each other by the combatants. Saintsbury. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]