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Flit vs Coast - What's the difference?

flit | coast | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between flit and coast

is that flit is a fluttering or darting movement while coast is the side or edge of something.

As verbs the difference between flit and coast

is that flit is to move about rapidly and nimbly while coast is to glide along without adding energy.

As an adjective flit

is fast, nimble.

flit

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A fluttering or darting movement.
  • (physics) A particular, unexpected, short lived change of state.
    • My computer just had a flit .
  • (slang) A homosexual.

    • Verb

  • To move about rapidly and nimbly.
  • * Tennyson
    • A shadow flits before me.
  • * 1912 : (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (Tarzan of the Apes), Chapter 6
    • There were many apes with faces similar to his own, and further over in the book he found, under "M," some little monkeys such as he saw daily flitting through the trees of his primeval forest. But nowhere was pictured any of his own people; in all the book was none that resembled Kerchak, or Tublat, or Kala.
  • To move quickly from one location to another.
  • * Hooker
    • It became a received opinion, that the souls of men, departing this life, did flit out of one body into some other.
  • (physics) To unpredictably change state for short periods of time.
    • My blender flits because the power cord is damaged.
  • (UK, Scotland, dialect) To move house (sometimes a sudden move to avoid debts).
    • (Wright)
    (Jamieson)
  • * 1855 , , page 199 (ISBN 0679405518)
    • After this manner did the late Warden of Barchester Hospital accomplish his flitting , and change his residence.
  • To be unstable; to be easily or often moved.
  • * Dryden
    • the free soul to flitting air resigned

    Related terms

    * dart * dash * flirt * lunge

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (poetic, obsolete) Fast, nimble.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.iv:
    • And in his hand two darts exceeding flit , / And deadly sharpe he held [...].

    Anagrams

    * ----

    coast

    English

    (wikipedia coast)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) The side or edge of something.
    • (Sir Isaac Newton)
  • The edge of the land where it meets an ocean, sea, gulf, bay, or large lake.
    • The rocky coast of Maine has few beaches.
  • (obsolete) A region of land; a district or country.
  • * 1526 , Bible , tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 2:
    • Then Herod perceavynge that he was moocked off the wyse men, was excedynge wroth, and sent forth and slue all the chyldren that were in bethleem, and in all the costes thereof […].
  • *, II.ii.3:
    • P. Crescentius, in his lib.'' 1 ''de agric. cap. 5, is very copious in this subject, how a house should be wholesomely sited, in a good coast , good air, wind, etc.
  • (obsolete) A region of the air or heavens.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.iii:
    • the learned Merlin, well could tell, / Vnder what coast of heauen the man did dwell […].

    Hypernyms

    * shore, shoreline

    Hyponyms

    * oceanfront, seashore

    Derived terms

    * coast fox * coast guard, coastguard * coast rat * coast-to-coast * coastal * coaster * coastland * coastline * coastward * coastwatcher * coastwise

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To glide along without adding energy.
    • When I ran out of gas, fortunately I managed to coast into a nearby gas station.
  • (nautical) To sail along a coast.
  • * Arbuthnot
    • The ancients coasted only in their navigation.
  • Applied to human behavior, to make a minimal effort, to continue to do something in a routine way. This implies lack of initiative and effort.
  • * November 2 2014 , Daniel Taylor, " Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
    • Yet the truth is that City would probably have been coasting by that point if the referee, Michael Oliver, had not turned down three separate penalties, at least two of which could be accurately described as certainties.
  • (obsolete) To draw near to; to approach; to keep near, or by the side of.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Anon she hears them chant it lustily, / And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.
    (Hakluyt)
  • (obsolete) To sail by or near; to follow the coastline of.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • Nearchus, not knowing the compass, was fain to coast that shore.
  • (obsolete) To conduct along a coast or river bank.
  • * Hakluyt
    • The Indians coasted me along the river.
  • (US, dialect) To slide downhill; to slide on a sled upon snow or ice.

    • Anagrams

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