Also 6 Sc. flicht. [f. FLIGHT sb.1 and 2.]
1. trans. To put to flight, rout; hence, to frighten, scare. Obs. exc. dial.
1571. Campion, Hist. Irel., II. i. (1633), 63. But Griffin a Gentleman of the bloud royall in Wales, flighted the Kyrneghes, and slew Ororick.
1579–80. North, Plutarch (1657), 245. Mount Ptoum is hard by it also, from whence the wild Bore came of a sudden that flighted her.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut. vii. 41. Else in the night they should haue bene flighted with the wildernesse which was verie dreadfull.
1603. S. Harsnet, Pop. Impost., 16. Our holy Exorcists vsed neyther that, nor any other of the fiue terrors, to flight the deuils from Fulmer, nor Denham, but were content with theyr companie, and fell to theyr worke.
1848. E. Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1858), 29. ‘And at the end of it to be flighted to death!’ he said.
fig. 1676. Glanvill, Ess., iv. 34. ’Tis alledg’d by some, Philosophy disposeth Men to despise the Scriptures; or at least to neglect the study of them; and therefore [philosophy] is to be flighted [? mispr. for slighted], and exploded among Christians.
† 2. intr. To fluctuate, change. Obs. Sc.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxiv. 6.
| This warld evir dois flicht and wary, | |
| Fortoun sa fast hir quheill dois cary. |
3. † a. To migrate; = FLIT, FLEET (obs.). b. Of wild fowl: To fly in flights.
1604. Middleton, Witch, III. iii.
| Hec. Prepare to flight then: | |
| I’ll over-take you swifily. [But flight may here be the sb.2] |
1752. Scotland’s Glory, 5.
| The followers of John divine | |
| In Scotland when they flighted, | |
| And published here the Gospel news, | |
| Which Pagan demons frighted. |
1879. R. Lubbock, Fauna of Norfolk, 117. If undisturbed in fine weather, they [snipe] merely flight for a few minutes morning and evening, and spend the remainder of the time in eating and sleeping.
1891. Ld. Houghton, Stray Verses, In Winter, 9.
| The alder-branches half-revealed; | |
| A rabbit moves the crispening brake, | |
| The wildfowl flighting from the lake | |
| Wheel high, and circle for the field. |
4. trans. To set flying, start in flight. To flight off: to start off in flights, send away in flights.
1823. New Monthly Mag., VII. 123. No more need Malthus afflict himself and the world with the fearful anticipation of the earth not being large enough to hold us: the superabundant population may be flighted off to the lunar regions, to cultivate a nearer acquaintance with the spheres, and enter into reciprocal schemes for the mutual advantage of both planets.
1892. Northumbld. Gloss., ‘Aa’ll flight ye pigeons for a shillin’.’
5. To shoot (wildfowl) in flight.
1892. Cornh. Mag., XIX. Aug., 155. Wildfowlers know this habit well, and ‘flighting,’ or shooting them as they go and come, is a favourite method of procuring wild ducks.
6. To feather (an arrow).
1869. Boutell, Arms & Arm., ii. 34. The arrows, which had iron tips, were flighted with feathers: here is one of the rare occasions in which iron appears in the midst of the prevailing bronze of the Homeric age.
1890. C. Dixon, Stray Feathers, ii. 20. The stiff quill feathers of various species of birds are used by savages to flight their arrows; and in modern archery no better material has yet been discovered.
