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. FIotorode, 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 the Minstrel, Wallace, VII. 1210. Vij thousand large at anys flottryt in Forth.
1506. Guylforde, Pilgr. (Camden), 67. There contynued suche a calme that we made right lytell spede, but laye and flotred in the see right werely by reason of the sayd tedyous calme.
a. 1800. Sir P. Spruce, xv., in Jamieson, Pop. Ballads (1806), I. 160.
| Mony was the feather bed, | |
| That flotter’d on the faem; | |
| And mony was the good Scots lord | |
| Gaed awa that ne’er cam hame. |
fig. c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 392. Ðin heorte floteraþ on þissere worulde ȝytsunge.
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, by for schame | |
| That flotteris furth euermair in sluggardry. |
2. 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.
a. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 1781 (Trin.).
| Þe foules flotered þo on heȝe | |
| And fel whenne þei myȝt not dreȝe. |
1535. Coverdale, Isa. xxxi. 5. Like as byrdes flotre aboute their nestes, so shal the Lorde of hoostes kepe, saue, defende and deliuer Ierusalem.
1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., IV. Wks. 1856, I. 45.
| Troopes of pide butterflies, that flutter still | |
| In greatnesse summer, that confirme a prince. |
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xv. 252–3. The parrot, not being quite dead, had fluttered a good way off from the place where she fell.
1824. Byron, Juan, XV. xxvii.
| We ’ll do our best to make the best on ’t:—March! | |
| March, my Muse! If you cannot fly, yet flutter; | |
| And when you may not be sublime, be arch, | |
| Or starch, shall find something worth research. |
1850. McCosh, Div. Govt., III. ii. (1874), 345. The mind moves round a point like the fretted animal round the post to which it is chained, or like the moth fluttering about the light which is to consume it.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 204.
| Built ’neath the belfry huge and high, | |
| Fluttered about perpetually | |
| 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 as dooth the feet of preching.
1591. Sidney, Astr. & Stella, cviii.
| But soone as thought of thee breeds my delight, | |
| And my yong soule flutters to thee his nest, | |
| Most rude Despaire, my daily ’vnbidden guest, | |
| Clips streight my wings, streight wraps me in his night. |
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), II. 80. He flutters up and down like a Butterfly in a Garden; and while he is pruning of his Peruque takes Occasion to contemplate his Legs, and the Symmetry of his Britches.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., IV. lxi. 212. Hans’s talk naturally fluttered towards mischief, and he was given to a form of experiment on live animals which consisted in irritating his friends playfully.
b. To move with a light quivering motion through the air.
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, iii. An etching of a child playing with a Blenheim spaniel happened to flutter to the floor.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt (1868), 10. Here and there a leaf fluttered down; petals fell in a silent shower.
1873. Ouida, Pascarèl, I. ii. 19. Paper money fluttered to her feet; loose silver rolled like sugar-plums; here and there a piece of gold flashed like a star through the air; flowers and toys and gilded horns of sweetmeats, and ribboned playthings of the pageantry were all showered upon them from the balconies above and from the throngs around, until their arms ached with stretching for the gifts, he his red berretta, and she her amber skirts.
c. quasi-trans. with adv. or prep., expressing the result of a ‘fluttering’ movement.
1600. F. Walker, Sp. Mandeville, 152 a. When they see any Hawke or Fowle that lyueth by pray, they choppe downe into the Snowe, fluttering the same ouer them with theyr winges, in such sort, that they leaue no part of them vndiscouered, preseruing thereby theyr lyfe.
1789. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Ep. to falling Minis., Wks. 1812, II. 125.
| Regardless who the State Coach drives, | |
| So they may lead good merry, lazy lives; | |
| Pleased e’en from Devils to receive their pay, | |
| So they, like Moths, may flutter life away. |
1793. Cowper, Beau’s Reply, 13.
| And when your linnet on a day, | |
| Passing his prison door, | |
| Had fluttered all his strength away, | |
| And panting pressed the floor. |
1844. Alb. Smith, Adv. Mr. Ledbury, I. xiv. 103. Three or four seeds, which the bird had fluttered from his cage, had taken root in the dirt, and were struggling to push their two small dusky leaflets into existence.
3. transf. To move about aimlessly, restlessly, sportively, or ostentatiously; to flit, hover.
1694. trans. Milton’s Lett. State, Wks. (1851), VIII. 372. Now he resides at Paris, or rather flutters unpunish’d about the City, and at Court, enrich’d with the Spoils of our Merchants.
1734. Pope, Ess. Man, IV. 195.
| Fortune in men has some small diff’rence made; | |
| One flaunts in rags, one flutters in brocade. |
1779. Johnson, Lett. to Mrs. Thrale, 25 Oct. I hope Mr. Thrale scours the country after the early horn, and at night flutters about the rooms, and once a-day makes a lusty dinner.
1877. Black, Green Past., xliv. (1878), 354. She had kept fluttering about the hall, bothering the patient clerks with inquiries as to the time that a telegram took to reach London.
4. 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. Ah how sicke am I, my strengthe is gone, my sight faileth me, my toung flottereth in my mouth, my hands tremble & shake for payne, I can not hold vp my head for weakenes.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1840), III. 513. Though a large cloak is much heavier than a little stone; yet The weight thereof is diffused in several parts, and, fluttering above, all of them are supported by the clouds, which are seen to rack much lower than the top of the hill.
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, I. 89.
| Teach infant cheeks a bidden blush to know, | |
| And little hearts to flutter at a Beau. |
1815. Shelley, Alastor, 657.
| Till the minutest ray | |
| Was quenched, the pulse yet lingered in his heart. | |
| It paused—it fluttered. |
1820. Keats, Eve St. Agnes, xl.
| A chain-droop’d lamp was flickering by each door; | |
| The arras, rich with horseman, hawk, and hound, | |
| Flutter’d in the besieging wind’s uproar; | |
| And the long carpets rose along the gusty floor. |
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. 554–5. Generally the trace is distinguished by a light, accompanied by a flame, fluttering from time to time on the surface, from a prodigious number of little crevices, rather indented, which extend, in a serpentine direction, to a greater or less distance.
1821. Clare, The Village Minstrel, I. 46. lxxxvii.
| And down the rock the shallow water falls, | |
| Wild fluttering through the stones in feeble whimpering brawls. |
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, vi. Anyhow, there they [tonguelets of flame] flutter!
fig. 1844. Mrs. Browning, Drama of Exile, Poems (1850), I. 32.
| Its meaning flutters in me like a flame | |
| Under my own breath. |
† c. Music. (See quot. 1819.) Obs.
1759. R. Smith, Harmonics (ed. 2), 96–7. 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 (Harmonics, p. 97.) 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. My Lady swept out of his room, fluttering with her own audacity.
1865. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), VIII. lxv. 162. From the Euphrates to the Indus, 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, or deepe sewer where you cannot come at them, there you shal send foorth you Dogge to fetch them.
1644. Manwayring, Sea-mans Dict., s.v. Floane, The gust hath fluttred all the saile to peeces.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 932.
| All unawares, | |
| Fluttering his pennons vain plumb down he drops | |
| Ten thousand fadom deep. |
1746–7. Hervey, Medit. (1818), 157–8. While the gay butterfly flutters her painted wings, and sips a little fantastic delight only for the present moment.
1771. Hull, Sir W. Harrington, I. 214–5. I have already fluttered out all the cloaths I made up for first mourning, and must buy more.
1845. Poe, Raven, Poems (1859), 48.
| Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered— | |
| Till I scarcely more than muttered ‘Other friends have flown before.’ |
1864. Hemyng, Eton Sch. Days, i. 11. I used to flutter the ribands of the London Croydon and South Coast coach.
1893. McCarthy, Red Diamonds, II. xiv. 20. That silver name calls up pictures of osiered reaches, of shining spaces of water fluttered by the passing oar.
b. fig. To throw (a person) into confusion, agitation, or tremulous excitement.
1664. Shakspere’s Cor. (F. 3), V. vi. 116.
| That like an Eagle in a Dove-coat, I | |
| Flutter’d your Volcians in Coriolus. |
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), III. 39. Dear Madam! You flutter one so!
1784. E. Hazard, in Belknap Papers (1877), I. 382. I am so fatigued and fluttered with my walk that I can hardly write.
1864. Froude, Short Stud., Sc. Hist. (1867), 2. He produced a work which was translated at once into French and German, and, of all places in the world, fluttered the dovecotes of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), II. 45, Symposium. I should be strangely forgetful, Agathon, replied Socrates, of the courage and magnanimity which you showed when your own compositions were about to be exhibited, coming upon the stage with the actors and facing the vast theatre altogether undismayed, if I thought that your nerves could be fluttered at a small party of friends.
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.
