Flirt
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /flÉœË(ɹ)t/
- Rhymes: -ÉœË(ɹ)t
- US IPA: /flÉt/
Origin
1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt ("to flick"), flurt ("to mock, jibe, scorn"), and flirt, flurt ("a giddy girl"). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in , compare Eastern Frisian flirt ("a flick of the fingers, a light blow"), Eastern Frisian flirtje ("a giddy girl"), Low German flirtje ("a flirt"), German Flirtchen ("a flirt"), Norwegian flira ("to giggle, titter"). Perhaps from Middle English gill-flurt ("a flirt"), or an alteration of flird ("a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at"), from Middle English flerd ("mockery, fraud, deception"), from Old English fleard ("nonsense, vanity, folly, deception"). Compare Scots flird ("to talk idly, flirt, flaunt"). See flird.
Full definition of flirt
Noun
flirt
(plural flirts)- A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion; hence, a jeer.
- AddisonSeveral little flirts and vibrations.
- Edgar Allan PoeWith many a flirt and flutter.
- One who flirts; especially a woman who acts with giddiness, or plays at courtship; a coquette; a pert girl.
- AddisonSeveral young flirts about town had a design to cast us out of the fashionable world.
- An episode of flirting.
Synonyms
Verb
- (transitive) To throw (something) with a jerk or sudden movement; to fling. from 16th c.They flirt water in each other's faces.to flirt a glove, or a handkerchief
- (intransitive) To jeer at; to mock. 16th-18th c.
- Beaumont and FletcherI am ashamed; I am scorned; I am flirted.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.27:Asinius Pollio ..., having written many invectives against Plancus, staid untill he were dead to publish them. It was rather to flurt at a blind man, and raile in a dead mans eare, and to offend a senselesse man, than incurre the danger of his revenge.
- (intransitive) To dart about; to move with quick, jerky motions. from 16th c.
- (transitive) To blurt out. from 17th c.
- 1915, Thornton W. Burgess, The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, Ch. XXI:Chatterer flirted his tale in the saucy way he has, and his eyes twinkled.
- (to play at courtship)(intransitive) To play at courtship; to talk with teasing affection, to insinuate sexual attraction in a playful (especially conversational) way. from 18th c.
- 2006, The Guardian, 21 Apr 2006:Dr Hutchinson, who told jurors that he had been married for 37 years and that his son was a policeman, said he enjoyed flirting with the woman, was flattered by her attention and was anticipating patting her bottom again - but had no intention of seducing her.
Antonyms
- ("to insinuate emotional affection"): belittle