flicker

verb (used without object)

1. to burn unsteadily; shine with a wavering light: The candle flickered in the wind and went out.
2. to move to and fro; vibrate; quiver: The long grasses flickered in the wind.
3. to flutter.

verb (used with object)

4. to cause to flicker.

noun

5. an unsteady flame or light.
6. a flickering movement.
7. a brief occurrence or appearance: a flicker of hope.
8. Often flickers. Slang. flick².
9. Ophthalmology. the visual sensation of flickering that occurs when the interval between intermittent flashes of light is too long to permit fusion.

noun

1. any of several American woodpeckers of the genus Colaptes, having the underside of the wings and tail brightly marked with yellow or red and noted for taking insects from the ground as well as trees.

verb

1. (intr) to shine with an unsteady or intermittent lighta candle flickers
2. (intr) to move quickly to and fro; quiver, flutter, or vibrate
3. (tr) to cause to flicker

noun

4. an unsteady or brief light or flame
5. a swift quivering or fluttering movement
6. a visual sensation, often seen in a television image, produced by periodic fluctuations in the brightness of light at a frequency below that covered by the persistence of vision
7. the flicker (plural) a US word for flick 2 (def. 2)

noun

1. any North American woodpecker of the genus Colaptes, esp C. auratus (yellow-shafted flicker), which has a yellow undersurface to the wings and tail

v.

Old English flicorian “to flutter, flap quickly and lightly,” 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.

n.

“woodpecker,” 1808, American English, possibly echoic of bird’s note, or from white spots on plumage that seem to flicker as it flits from tree to tree.

n.

1849, “wavering, unsteady light or flame;” 1857 as “a flickering,” from flicker (v.).