1. trans. To propel or throw with a jerk or sudden movement; often, to propel by a blow from the fingernail released from the thumb. Also with away, off, out. Cf. FILLIP v. 1.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 84.
| But Scylla in cabbans with sneaking treacherye lurcketh, | |
| Close and slilye spying, too flirt thee nauye to rock bane. |
1602. Dekker, Satiro-mastix, Wks. 1873, I. 235. Tis thy fashion to flirt Inke in euerie mans face; and then to craule into his bosome, and damne thy selfe to wip’t off agen.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., vi. 88.
| Then springing at his height, as doth a little wand, | |
| That bended end to end, and flerted from the hand, | |
| Farre off it selfe doth cast. |
1710. Swift, Tatler, No. 238, 17 Oct., ¶ 3.
| Such is that Sprinkling which some careless Quean | |
| Flirts on you from her Mop, but not so clean. |
1735. J. Moore, Columbarium, 5. The Meat descends into a square shallow Box, fenc’d in with Rails or Holes on each Side, to keep ’em from flirting the Grain over on the Floor amongst their own Dung.
1812. G. Colman, Br. Grins, Lady of Wreck, I. xviii.
| It seem’d a drop, that from his bill, | |
| The Linnet casts beside the rill, | |
| Flirting his sweet and tiny shower | |
| Upon a milk-white April flower. |
1875. Darwin, Insectiv. Pl., xvii. 406. Minute particles of blue glass (so as to be easily distinguished) were placed on valves whilst under water; and on trying gently to move them with a needle, they disappeared so suddenly that, not seeing what had happened, I thought I had flirted them off; but on examining the bladders, they were found safely enclosed.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., II. xviii. ‘I don’t care what you call it,’ said Mab, flirting away her thimble.
b. With immaterial obj.; esp. to blurt out (something spoken).
1641. Vox Borealis, Dj. Then the Foole, he flirts out his folly.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Rich. II., cccxli.
| The Arch-Bishop still | |
| Flirting Divinitie against the Throne. |
1652. News fr. Low-Countr., 11. If carping Momes shall flurt in Podex’s face A Flout, to blur his Matter with Disgrace.
1889. Mark Twain (Clemens), Yankee Crt. K. Arthur (Tauchn.), II. 51. Of course I whet up now and then and flirt out a minor prophecy, but not often—hardly ever, in fact.
† 2. To give (a person) a sharp, sudden blow or knock; to rap, strike. Cf. FILLIP v. 2.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1631), III. XII. 881/1. Had hym oft tymes in Examination, vrging him, and with a sticke which he had in his hand, ofttimes rapping him on the head, and Flirting him vnder the chin, and on the eares, saiyng he looked doune like a theefe.
1611. Cotgr., Nasarder, to fillip; to rap, or flirt, on the nose.
1631. Quarles, Samson, Poems (1717), 327.
| Some gibe and floute him with their taunts and quips, | |
| Whilst others flurt him on the starting lips. |
3. To give a brisk, sudden motion to; to flick. Also with out, up. To flirt a fan: to open and close it with a jerk, to wave it smartly.
1665. Earl Dorset, To all you Ladies, viii.
| Whilst you, regardless of our woe, | |
| Sit careless at a play; | |
| Perhaps permit some happier man | |
| To kiss your hand or flirt your fan. |
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand., I. l. 343. She changed colour, bridled up, assumed an air of disdain, and flirted her fan with such a fury, that it went to pieces in a moment, to the no small entertainment of those who sat near and observed her.
1761. Mrs. F. Sheridan, Sidney Bidulph, II. 62. One of the windows was already up, and I flurted up the other as soon as I got into the coach.
1798. Bloomfield, Farmer’s Boy, Summer, 78.
| The small dust-colour’d beetle climbs with pain | |
| O’er the smooth plantain-leaf, a spacious plain! | |
| Thence higher still, by countless step convey’d, | |
| He gains the summit of a shiv’ring blade, | |
| And flirts his filmy wings, and looks around, | |
| Exulting in his distance from the ground. |
1834. R. Mudie, Brit. Birds (1841), I. 11. In those birds which have a habit of flirting up the tail, the under coverts are longer and stronger than in those which have no such habit.
1855. Browning, Lovers’ Quarrel, x.
| Teach me to flirt a fan | |
| As the Spanish ladies can. |
1855. Smedley, H. Coverdale, iv. 21. As he spoke, Harry again impatiently flirted the whip over the ears of ‘My old Aunt Sally,’ an indignity which excited the fiery disposition of that highly-descended quadruped.
1893. R. Kipling, Many Invent., 229. He flirted the dinghy round the big ship, and for the next ten minutes I enjoyed—positively enjoyed—an exhibition of first-class steering.
b. absol. or intr. Of a turkey-cock: To set up its feathers. rare–1.
1654. Gayton, Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixot, IV. iii. 186. If you had but rusht and flurted like a Turky cocke, I should have been afraid of dying no other death, then by the shooting of your quils through me.
† 4. a. intr. To turn up one’s nose; hence, to sneer, gibe, scoff at. Also of the nostrils: To be turned up or dilated, as if sneering (the earliest recorded use). b. trans. To sneer or scoff at, flout (not clearly distinguishable from fig. use of 2). Obs.
a. 1553. Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 23. They [inhabitants of Zanzibar] haue greate mouthes, nosethrilles flyrtting vpwarde and wyde, with great eares and cruell eyes.
1603. Florio, Montaigne, I. I. 165. Diogenes, who did nothing but trifle, toy, and dally with himselfe, in rumbling and rowling of his tub, and flurting [Fr. hochant du nez] at Alexander.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 27. Derided, and flurted at by diuers of the baser people, at night we returned to our Barke.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1826), I. 63. Mr. Jones … could not forbear flirting at him, as—‘Come, Mr. Deputy Attorney, what have you to say now?’
b. 1593. Nashe, Four Lett. Confut., Wks. (Grosart), II. 211. Titius shall not vpbraid Caius with euerie thing and nothing nor Zoylus anie more flurt Homer, nor Thersites fling at Agamemnon.
1621. Fletcher, Pilgrim, I. i. I’le not be foold nor flurted.
1686. Catholic Representer, II. 73. But for you, that talk loud of Reason, and have none: You that fleer, and flurt, and blaspheme every thing you do not understand.
5. intr. To move with a jerk or spring; to spring, dart. Of a winged creature: To take short quick flights. Also with about, away, up.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 31.
| Lyke bees in summar season, through rustical hamlets | |
| That flirt in soonbeams, and toyle with mutterus humbling. |
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. xx. i. 35. It wil leape & flurt in the handling from the stele whereto it hangeth, against their faces, with no smal danger of their eye-sight.
1680. Tom & Will, 90, in Roxb. Ball.
| And three or four, then under pole, | |
| did flirt away through Doctor’s hole. |
1697. Dampier, Voy., I. 148. We tread on them to take the Hook out of their Mouths, for otherwise, in flurting about (as all Fish will when first taken) they might accidentally strike their sharp Fins into the hands of those that caught them.
a. 1800. Cowper, trans. Milton’s Damon, 144.
| The sparrow, meanest of the feather’d race, | |
| His fit companion finds in every place, | |
| With whom he picks the grain that suits him best, | |
| Flirts here and there, and late returns to rest. |
1822. J. Flint, Letters from America, xix. 234. The velocity of every plunge made her long loose hair flirt up as if a handkerchief were held by one of its corners and twitched violently.
1841. R. B. Peake, Court & City, II. i. (Stage direction). As he approaches nearer, she flirts from him, runs behind a chair.
1887. Stevenson, The Treasure of Franchard, vi. They found the doctor raving, calling the heavens to witness and avenge his injury, pacing the room barefooted, with the tails of his night-shirt flirting as he turned.
1890. Gloucester Gloss., s.v. ‘The paper must have flirted into the fire.’
† 6. fig. To flit inconstantly from one object to another. Obs.
1578. T. Proctor, Gorg. Gallery, in Heliconia (1814), I. 133.
| Hath fancy provokte you? did love you intrap? | |
| Sing willow, willow, willow: | |
| That now you be flurting, and will not abide. |
1707. J. Stevens, trans. Quevedo’s Com. Wks. (1709), 348. Do not flirt, or fly from one thing to another.
7. To play at courtship; to practise coquetry; to make love without serious intentions. Often, to flirt with (a person); also in indirect passive.
1777. Garrick, Prol. Sheridan’s Sch. Scand.
| If Mrs. B. will still continue flirting, | |
| We hope she’ll DRAW, or we’ll UNDRAW the curtain. |
1793. Earl Buchan, Anon. & Fugit. Ess. (1812), 261. You see them almost every night drunk in the boxes of the playhouse and opera house, flirting with the beauties of the day.
1859. Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, 258. Every man likes to flirt with a pretty girl, and every pretty girl likes to be flirted with.
1863. Ouida, Held in Bondage, I. viii. 192. Scores of military men, who flirted more desperately and meant less by it than any fellows in the room.
b. To play, toy, trifle with (something).
1859. Dickens, T. Two Cities, II. v. The lion for the most part reclining with his hands in his waistband, looking at the fire, or occasionally flirting with some lighter document.
1883. F. M. Crawford, Dr. Claudius, ii. 28. Claudius was flirting with his fancies, and drawing pretty pictures in the smoke, with dark eyes and masses of black hair.
c. trans. = to flirt with. rare–1.
1801. Moore, Wks. T. Little, To Rosa, iii. 9.
| Do you thus seek to flirt a number, | |
| And through a round of danglers run, | |
| Because your heart’s insipid slumber | |
| Could never wake to feel for one? |
