verb (used without object)
- to burn unsteadily; shine with a wavering light: The candle flickered in the wind and went out.
- to move to and fro; vibrate; quiver: The long grasses flickered in the wind.
- to flutter.
verb (used with object)
- to cause to flicker.
noun
- an unsteady flame or light.
- a flickering movement.
- a brief occurrence or appearance: a flicker of hope.
- Often flickers. Slang. flick2.
- Ophthalmology. the visual sensation of flickering that occurs when the interval between intermittent flashes of light is too long to permit fusion.
verb
- (intr) to shine with an unsteady or intermittent lighta candle flickers
- (intr) to move quickly to and fro; quiver, flutter, or vibrate
- (tr) to cause to flicker
noun
- an unsteady or brief light or flame
- a swift quivering or fluttering movement
- 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
- the flicker (plural) a US word for flick 2 (def. 2)
noun
- any North American woodpecker of the genus Colaptes, esp C. auratus (yellow-shafted flicker), which has a yellow undersurface to the wings and tail
1849, “wavering, unsteady light or flame;” 1857 as “a flickering,” from flicker (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.
“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.