Flicker vs Buster - What's the difference?
flicker | buster |
An unsteady flash of light.
A short moment.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=8 (lb) To burn or shine unsteadily. To burn or shine with a wavering light.
* (1809-1892)
*:The shadows flicker to and fro.
*
*:Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze. When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth and heaping kindling on the coals,.
(lb) To keep going on and off; to appear and disappear for short moments; to flutter.
*1898 , , (Moonfleet), Ch.3:
*:There I lay on one side with a thin and rotten plank between the dead man and me, dazed with the blow to my head, and breathing hard; while the glow of torches as they came down the passage reddened and flickered on the roof above.
*1908 , (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows)
*:The ruddy brick floor smiled up at the smoky ceiling; the oaken settles, shiny with long wear, exchanged cheerful glances with each other; plates on the dresser grinned at pots on the shelf, and the merry firelight flickered and played over everything without distinction.
To flutter; to flap the wings without flying.
*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
*:And flickering on her nest made short essays to sing.
Someone who or something that bursts, breaks, or destroys a specified thing.
* 1614 , S. Jerome, Moses his Sight of Canaan , 147:
* 2005 , J. Madhavan, Sita & Forest Bandits , 122:
# .
#* 1940 September 2, Life , 29/1:
#* 1958 February 10, Life , 70:
Someone who or something that 'breaks', tames, or overpowers a specified person or thing.
# A bronco-buster.
#* 1891 July, Harper's Magazine , 208/2
# (Forming compounds denoting an agent or agency tasked with reducing or eliminating the first element).
#* 1920 , F. A. McKenzie, ‘Pussyfoot’ Johnson , v. 83:
#* 1974''' July 4, ''New Scientist , 65/2:
#* 1984 November 18, N.Y. Times , iv. 24/2:
Someone]] or something remarkable, especially for being loud, large, [[etc..
* 1833 April, Parthenon , 293:
* 2004 November 20, South Wales Echo , 9:
# : guy, dude, fella, mack, buddy, loser. (Originally as 'old buster' .)
#* 1838 March 24, New Yorker , 4/1:
#* 1919 , , ''(My Man Jeeves), 79:
#* 2001 , S. MacKay, Fall Guy , ix. 113:
A loaf of bread.
* 1835 September 16, Morning Post , 4/2:
* 1904 June 8, Journal of the Department of Labour (New Zealand), 536:
A drinking spree, a binge.
* 1848 , John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms :
* 1922 , (James Joyce), , 405:
a southerly buster.
* 1848 , John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms
* 1886 , Frank Cowan, Australia , 14:
* 1991 , J. Moore, By Way of Wind , 121:
a staged fall, a pratfall.
* 1874 April, Baily's Monthly Magazine , 114:
A molting crab.
*1855 October 18, Henry A. Wise, letter in J.P. Hambleton's Biographical Sketch of Henry A. Wise (1856), 448:
* 2002 January 6, N.Y. Times , v. 4/6:
*
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As nouns the difference between flicker and buster
is that flicker is an unsteady flash of light or flicker can be (us) a certain type of small woodpecker, especially of the genus colaptes or flicker can be one who flicks while buster is (a specific instance of) buster : guy, dude, fella, mack, buddy, loser.As a verb flicker
is (lb) to burn or shine unsteadily to burn or shine with a wavering light.As a proper noun buster is
or buster can be (male).flicker
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)citation, passage=It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.}}
Verb
(en verb)Etymology 2
1808, American English, probably echoic of the bird's call, or from the white spotted plumage which appears to flicker.See also
* (wikipedia "flicker")Etymology 3
Derived terms
* bean flickerbuster
English
(Buster)Alternative forms
* Buster * -busterNoun
(en noun)- Now death, I pray thee what is it, but a buster of bonds; a destruction of toyle?
- Rothlin was described... by the papers as the buster of the bandit ring.
- German ‘balloon busters ’ attack the Dover barrage.
- Our main purpose in further experimentation with nuclear bombs is not... to make city-busters more horrible.
- The buster must be careful to keep well away from sheds and timber.
- Men nicknamed him the ‘Booze Buster ’, and cartoonists loved to picture him, revolver in hand,... fighting the demon rum.
- The professional fraud-busters [of the art world].
- New York City traffic agents have become Gridlock Busters' and cigarette foes are ' smokebusters .
- ‘I had to clean this old roarer,’ continued the ‘editor’... as he wiped the barrel of his pistol. ‘She's a buster , I tell you.’
- What a buster of a lunch it turned out to be.
- That's generous, old buster .
- An extremely wealthy old buster .
- ‘Careful, buster ,’ she said. ‘I've got a knife in my hand.’
- Three penny busters , and a whole kit-full of winegar and mustard.
- An 8 loaf of brown bread... goes by the name of ‘buster ’, I suppose on account of the way they blow you out.
- They were on a buster , and were taken up by the police.
- All off for a buster , armstrong, hollering down the street.
- ‘This is a buster ,’ i.e. a powerful or heavy wind.
- The Buster and Brickfielder: austral red-dust blizzard and red-hot Simoom.
- When the barometer drops rapidly... watch out for a strong sou'wester. A buster can be on you in a flash.
- Dainty... came down ‘a buster ’ at the last hurdle, and Scots Grey cantered in by himself.
- In that state he is called a ‘Buster ’, bursting his shell.
- Restaurant August... serves contemporary French cuisine prepared with Louisiana ingredients like buster crabs, shrimp and oysters.