flicker
pronunciation
How to pronounce flicker in British English:
UK [ˈflɪkə(r)]
How to pronounce flicker in American English:
US [ˈflɪkər]
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- Noun:
- a momentary flash of light
- North American woodpecker
- the act of moving back and forth
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- Verb:
- move back and forth very rapidly
- shine unsteadily
- flash intermittently
Word Origin
- flicker (n.1)
- 1849, "wavering, unsteady light or flame;" 1857 as "a flickering," from flicker (v.).
- flicker (v.)
- Old English flicorian "to flutter, flap quickly and lightly, move the wings," originally of birds. Onomatopoeic and suggestive of quick motion. Sense of "shine with a wavering light" is c. 1600, but not common till 19c. Related: Flickered; flickering.
- flicker (n.2)
- type of North American woodpecker, 1808, American English, said to be echoic of bird's note, or from black spots on plumage of the underparts that seem to flicker as it flits from tree to tree.
Example
- 1. They flicker in and out , they 're random .
- 2. This flicker of intimacy spurs me to confide he is easier company than I had expected .
- 3. My brain is a sloppy computer with a flicker of consciousness and the illusion of free will .
- 4. In a corner shop a syrian man buying cigarettes is jolted by the thud of shells landing on a nearby hillside , where the lights of a syrian village flicker .
- 5. Those furnaces may flicker on for a while .