flirt

Meanings

Noun

• A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion
• Someone who flirts a lot or enjoys flirting; a flirtatious person.
• An act of flirting.
• A tentative or brief, passing engagement with something.
• A brief shower (of rain or snow).

Verb

• To throw (something) with a jerk or sudden movement; to fling.
• To jeer at; to mock.
• To dart about; to move with quick, jerky motions.
• To blurt out.
• To play at courtship; to talk with teasing affection, to insinuate sexual attraction in a playful (especially conversational) way.
• To experiment, or tentatively engage, with; to become involved in passing with.

Adjective

• pert; wanton
• Flirtatious.

Origin

• 1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt, flurt, and flirt, flurt. Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, compare Low German flirt, Low German flirtje, Low German flirtje, German Flittchen, Norwegian flira. Perhaps from Middle English gill-flurt, or an alteration of flird, from Middle English flerd, from Old English fleard. Compare Scots flird. See flird.