See Also: Flicker(medicine)
flicker(encyclopedia)
flicker(2)(dictionary)
flicker(1)(dictionary)
Flicker(health)
flicker 1, verb(dictionary)
flicker 2, noun(dictionary)
flicker perimetry(medicine)
flicker fusion(medicine)
capacitance flicker(medicine)

flicker(2) (iou)



flicker verb & noun2.
[Old English flicorian, flycerian (cf. Low German flickern, Dutch flikkeren), orig. synon. with FLACKER.]
A. verb.
verb intrans. Of a bird: flutter. Now rare. OE.
verb intrans. Make caressing or fondling movements; act or look in a coaxing or affectionate manner; dally (after). ME-E19.
Dryden Lavinia..looks a little flickering after Turnus.
Waver, vacillate, act unreliably. ME-M18.
W. Shenstone A race of flickering knaves.
verb intrans. & (rare) trans. (Cause to) flutter rapidly, quiver, undulate; wave to and fro. LME.
Tennyson Nor cared the serpent..to flicker with his double tongue. R. Warner The beginnings of a smile flickered at the corners of her mouth.
verb intrans. Flash up and die away rapidly (and repeatedly); (of flame) burn fitfully; (of light) vary rapidly in brightness. E17.
flicker out die away after a final flicker.
C. Merivale A gleam of hope still flickered in their bosoms. M. de la Roche A gust came down the chimney and the night-light flickered.
verb trans. Cause to move rapidly or fitfully like a flicker of light; indicate by a flicker. M19.
R. Langbridge He watched her eye-lashes flicker dismissal. D. H. Lawrence He..flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips.
b. noun.
An act of flickering, a flickering movement. M19.
D. Bagley The flame which burned without a flicker in the still air. fig.: A. S. Byatt She looked at him with a flicker of interest.
A wavering, unsteady light or flame. M19.
P. G. Wodehouse A flicker of lightning came and went in the darkness.
b. A rapid, rhythmic variation in illumination or sound; the visual or aural sensation caused by this. L19.
c. spec. A succession of abrupt changes in the image on a television etc. screen (esp. with an overlap between them), causing visual confusion. L19.
= FLICK noun1 4. slang. Now rare. E20.
Comb.: flicker fusion frequency Optics the frequency of flicker above which the eye perceives a light source as constant; flicker photometer, flicker photometry a photometer, a photometric technique, used for comparing the intensities of two light sources (esp. of different colours), which works by measuring the flicker produced when the same visual field is illuminated alternately by the two sources; flickertail N. Amer. = Richardson's ground squirrel s.v. RICHARDSON noun1.
flickering verbal noun the action of the verb; an instance of this: LME.
flickeringly adverb in a flickering manner M19.
flickery adjective that flickers, flickering L19.