小词详解 | flit

flit 英 [flɪt] 美 [flɪt]

SAT TEM8 GRE

外刊例句

• That arrangement suited many workers, who preferred the stability of permanent employment to the alternative of flitting between short-term contracts, which they would also find difficult to organise.
  这种安排对许多工人来说很合适，他们更喜欢长期就业的稳定性，而不是辗转在短期合同之间。工人要把各种短期工作安排好也并非易事。
  ——《经济学人》
• Patients might flit their eyes back and forth, following a therapist's finger or stare at bursts of light on alternating sides of a screen.
  患者可能会跟着治疗师的手指来回摆动眼睛，或者盯着屏幕两侧交替的闪光。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[verb] move swiftly and lightly
[动词] 迅速轻快地移动

深入解读

Flit 是一个与小站（微信公众号：田间小站）推送过的 Flirt 十分形近的单词，可以一并联想记忆。

该词常用搭配 flit from A to B 或 flit between A and B 表示“掠过、飞过、闪过”或“轻快地从一处到另一处”，强调迅速轻快地移动，既包括在两地间来回穿梭且不作长时间停留，也可以指鸟、蝙蝠等飞来飞去，很快从一个地方飞到另一个地方，以及引申指表情、念头等在脸上或脑海里一闪而过，比如：

• 岁月飞逝。
  Time flitted by.
• 他频繁跳槽。
  He flits from one job to another.
• 他脸上掠过一丝惊慌。
  A look of panic flitted across his face.

在苏格兰方言中， flit 还被用来表示“迁移、迁居、搬家”，比如：

• 我父母每次迁居，我都得换学校。
  I had to change schools every time my parents flitted.

而在英式口语中， flit 则可用作名词表示为躲债而暗中“迁移、迁居、搬家”，比如小站曾在 熟词僻义 | moonlight 是瞒着老板偷偷做什么？ 中提到过的：

• 晚上/半夜潜逃
  do a moonlight/midnight flit

名著用例

In these lengthened vigils, his brain often reeled, and visions seemed to flit before him; perhaps seen doubtfully, and by a faint light of their own, in the remote dimness of the chamber, or more vividly and close beside him, within the looking-glass.
在长夜不眠的祈祷之中，他的头脑时常晕眩，似乎有许多幻象在他眼前飞舞；这些幻象有时在内室的昏暗中自身发着微光，看着似有似无，有时则出现在镜子之中，近在咫尺，显得更清晰些。

出自美国浪漫主义作家纳撒尼尔·霍桑（Nathaniel Hawthorne）于1850年出版的长篇小说《红字》（The Scarlet Letter: A Romance）。

同近义词

• flitter: move quickly in an apparently random or purposeless manner
• flicker: make small, quick movements; flutter rapidly
• flutter: (of a bird or other winged creature) fly unsteadily or hover by flapping the wings quickly and lightly

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