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Flicker vs Wave - What's the difference?

flicker | wave |

As nouns the difference between flicker and wave

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 wave is a moving disturbance in the level of a body of water; an undulation.

As verbs the difference between flicker and wave

is that flicker is (lb) to burn or shine unsteadily to burn or shine with a wavering light while wave is (lb) to move back and forth repeatedly or wave can be .

flicker

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • An unsteady flash of light.
  • A short moment.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=8 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)
  • (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.
  • Etymology 2

    1808, American English, probably echoic of the bird's call, or from the white spotted plumage which appears to flicker.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (US) A certain type of small woodpecker, especially of the genus Colaptes
  • See also
    * (wikipedia "flicker")

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who flicks.
  • Derived terms
    * bean flicker

    wave

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) waven, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (wav)
  • (lb) To move back and forth repeatedly.
  • :
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Tom Fordyce, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland , passage=But the World Cup winning veteran's left boot was awry again, the attempt sliced horribly wide of the left upright, and the saltires were waving aloft again a moment later when a long pass in the England midfield was picked off to almost offer up a breakaway try.}}
  • (lb) To wave one’s hand in greeting or departure.
  • :
  • (lb) To have an undulating or wavy form.
  • (lb) To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:horns whelked and waved like the enridged sea
  • (lb) To produce waves to the hair.
  • *
  • *:There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved', put in curlers overnight, ' waved with hot tongs;.
  • To swing and miss at a pitch.
  • :
  • (lb) To cause to move back and forth repeatedly.
  • :
  • (lb) To signal (someone or something) with a waving movement.
  • To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:He waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good nor harm.
  • To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft.
  • :(Sir Thomas Browne)
  • To call attention to, or give a direction or command to, by a waving motion, as of the hand; to signify by waving; to beckon; to signal; to indicate.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Look, with what courteous action / It waves you to a more removed ground.
  • * (1809-1892)
  • *:She spoke, and bowing waved / Dismissal.
  • Derived terms
    * wave off * waver * wave the white flag

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) *.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A moving disturbance in the level of a body of water; an undulation.
  • The wave traveled from the center of the lake before breaking on the shore.
  • (physics) A moving disturbance in the energy level of a field.
  • Gravity waves , while predicted by theory for decades, have been notoriously difficult to detect.
  • A shape that alternatingly curves in opposite directions.
  • Her hair had a nice wave to it.
    sine wave
  • (figuratively) A sudden unusually large amount of something that is temporarily experienced.
  • A wave of shoppers stampeded through the door when the store opened for its Christmas discount special.
    A wave of retirees began moving to the coastal area.
    A wave of emotion overcame her when she thought about her son who was killed in battle.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=January 11 , author=Jonathan Stevenson , title=West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Foster had been left unsighted by Scott Dann's positioning at his post, but the goalkeeper was about to prove his worth to Birmingham by keeping them in the game with a series of stunning saves as West Ham produced waves' after ' wave of attack in their bid to find a crucial second goal.}}
  • A sideway movement of the hand(s).
  • With a wave of the hand.
  • A group activity in a crowd imitating a wave going through water, where people in successive parts of the crowd stand and stretch upward, then sit. Usually referred to as "the wave"
  • Derived terms
    * Elliott wave * make waves * Mexican wave * waveband * wave field synthesis * wave function * waveguide * wavelength * wavelet * wave mechanics * wave number * wave packet * wave-particle duality * wave ski * wave train * wave vector * wavy
    Synonyms
    * (an undulation) (l)

    Etymology 3

    See waive.