Link Centre Dictionary

flick

UK/flɪk/ US/ˈflɪk/ fairly common informal slang
verb (9) noun (2)

verb

1.

flash intermittently

  • “The lights flicked on and off”
Synonyms
2.

look through a book or other written material

  • “He thumbed through the report”
  • “She leafed through the volume”
Synonyms
3.

cause to move with a flick

  • “he flicked his Bic”
Synonyms
4.

throw or toss with a quick motion

  • “flick a piece of paper across the table”
  • “jerk his head”
Synonyms
5.

shine unsteadily

  • “The candle flickered”
Synonyms
6.

twitch or flutter

  • “the paper flicked”
Synonyms
7.

cause to make a snapping sound

  • “snap your fingers”
Synonyms
8.

touch or hit with a light, quick blow

  • “flicked him with his hand”
9.

remove with a flick (of the hand, for example)

noun

1.

a light sharp contact (usually with something flexible)

  • “he gave it a flick with his finger”
  • “he felt the flick of a whip”
2.

a form of entertainment that enacts a story by a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement

  • “they went to a movie every Saturday night”
  • “the film was shot on location”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English flykke (“light blow or stroke”). Later uses apparently interpreted as a back-formation from flicker. The use of flick to mean a film or movie derives from the fact that early films had a low frame rate, thus causing the film to "flick" rapidly when projected onto a screen.

Phrases

  • Ardiles flick
  • chick flick
  • flick book
  • flick in
  • flick knife
  • flick off
  • flick on the afterburners
  • flick one's bean
  • flick over
  • flick the bean
  • flick through
  • frat flick

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.